Never A Shadow
by The Lady Destiny
Summary: Annabella Vinci was Tony's shadow. It was a simple as that. She went where he went, and mostly did what he wanted. That's what desperate people do when they've been in love with their best friend for years. TonyxOC Tony/OC TonyOC
1. Night Time Sharpens

Long black hair, pale skin, and red lips wearing a formal dress sitting in a chair at another awards ceremony. That's me. I'm Annabella Vinci and I'm co-CEO of Stark & Vinci Industries. I'm twenty-six and a Scorpio. You can find all of this in any magazine you pick up. As the world's leading producers Stark and Vinci Industries is known everywhere, in every country, and on every continent. I don't see this as bragging. Don't get me wrong, I don't put it in every conversation I have but I've worked to join my company with Stark Industries ever since back when it was still my parent's company.

Back when it was just Stark Industries, they were only the leading producers in weapons technology. I came to Howard Stark, who was actually a family friend, when I was fifteen and proposed that Vinci Enterprises merge with Stark Industries and then we could lead in more than just weapons.

He took the offer and I've been co-CEO ever since. I met Tony when we were little, because we were both considered exceptionally…bright. The only difference is while Tony finds his passion in mechanics, and technology, my passion is well, a great deal of everything. I've managed to get degrees in psychology, Engineering, and a Masters in Business Management. I even went to medical school for a while, but I was rejected later because of the age in which I entered therefore, I never got the degree.

My dad originally started a company named Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistic Division. I still get reports of the progress, and the successes. Mom though, she was the CEO and owner of Vinci™. It's a company known for just about everything. At first, we specialized in computers. We bought out a small company that was just getting started selling them, and they violated some city codes, it was…Microsoff I think. Apparently my Grandfather bought the programming and the company and took over the entire industry. My mom expanded that by diving into more industries, like the theatre and film. That was her passion.

When I took over, at the young tender age of 15, a genius, I bought out every company I could get my hands on. I invested in companies and bought stock like it was going out of style. I even bought out starting companies. The media tried to take me down, saying that I was going to ruin the company or even the economy with my spending but they were all left slack jawed when my products started flying off the shelves. Some tried to say I was building another monopoly, like the Robber Barons. I scoffed at them by putting half of the money I made back and then some.

Either way you look at it, it doesn't matter. When I was named the world's richest woman by Forbes magazine, the critics all kind of melted into the background, in my mind anyways. It felt like I'd accomplished something, despite what my parents would have said.

My parents, both of them, have passed away. My mother was murdered by her butler, cliché I know but apparently the butler was an old flame that she ditched when she married my father. It was an arranged marriage anyway, my mother and father's. I grew up with no love from my family, both of them were much to centered on work. My Dad died via a murderer, someone who is long since dead.

I'm telling you this, because I don't know if I'll make it through this boring ceremony. Oh it was all well put together, with the blue fabric hanging from the walls and the shining silver plastic shreds that bounced off the lights from the big screens they were using to display videos to honor the people they were giving awards. I can't even forget that it's an awards ceremony because they are only two types. The one where the audience is as if they were in a large theatre, then there are the ones just like this, where we sit at tables and we are provided food before the awards are given out. This one is the Apogee award. We've won it for the last four years running.

"-by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe." I tuned back in from my monologue to hear the last few words of the very deep voice that was giving a very generic overview of Tony and I's success since our company's have combined. Tony and I's lives have become a great deal more important to the public since Tony came to be the co-CEO of Stark and Vinci Industries, at twenty-one. When I say our lives, I mean our personal lives as well. Half of our popularity comes from speculation about our social lives, like who we are dating, or who we went to the party with. It can be very irritating and angering having every moment of your day interrupted for no reason other than to catch a glimpse of your day to day life.

As soon as the video they had, with leaked pictures of Tony and I through the years, finished the lights shined back on the stage. It was pretty cheap. In the center of the stage stood a Caesars Palace podium, the place where the ceremony was taking place actually, and a few security ropes lining the back of the stage.

Standing in the middle of the stage, behind the podium that now had the two transparent apogee awards resting on its polished surface, was none other than Colonel Rhodes, a friend of Tony's.

"As liaison to Stark & Vinci Industries," Rhodey, as we call him, started his speech. I felt bad for him really. Tony had actually showed up at first, sat down with us, even had a bit of the food. Then, halfway through the awards, some minor ones, he whispered to me that he was leaving and then just got up and walked away. I felt even worse for Pepper Potts, Tony's personal assistant, who was going to have to do the most damage control. Me, myself, and I will just have to accept the award.

I glanced over at Obadiah Stane. He's probably going to be upset to. Poor Obie is retired now, though he still tries to pitch in. I don't think he really wanted to retire but the company was rightfully Tony's. Of course, he holds a loose position on the board because he owns a bit of stock in the company. A very little bit of stock. Seeing as Tony and I own over 90 percent of the stock, simply because we not only own it but are acting CEO's.

"…I've had a unique privilege of serving with two real and honorable patriots." Rhodey continued on. "Tony and Anna are my great mentors." He continued. I wonder if anyone had informed him that Tony wasn't here. I wouldn't blame him if he just out right took Tony down. To be completely honest Tony really needs to be knocked off his pedestal.

"Anna, do you know where Tony is?" Pepper whispered across our table to me. I grimaced and shook my head, but I could guess that Tony was at the casino that was also connected to Caesars Palace. No doubt he was going to make headlines for blowing off this ceremony.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark and Annabella Vinci." Rhodey said. Before he was even finished saying my last name the crowd was cheering. I rose from my chair, tucking the green fabric of my gown into submission, and started weaving through the maze of tables towards the front of the room. Rhodey's face looked completely confused for a second before it looked furious. I couldn't blame him.

As I mounted the steps to the stage Rhodes moved towards me, and conveniently away from the microphone. "Do you know where he is?" He muttered to me as we hugged for the watching audience.

"The casino, most likely." I whispered right back, grinning at him so the world would have no idea that Rhodes and I were both plotting Tony's doom in our heads. No, I couldn't do that. I slipped behind the podium and to my annoyance I was again short compared to the podium. So I kicked out the small kickstand that matched the wood of the podium and stepped up onto it to smile at the audience. In my hand I held my own apogee award but for now I left the one with Tony's name on it on the stand, so I could grab it on the way back to my seat.

"I'm really happy that this award was given to Tony and I. I want to thank everyone for supporting me throughout my life, and making sure that I could get the education I craved. Thank you everyone who buys our products but really, I want to thank the marines, Air Force, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, National Guard, and really all of you for keeping me and America safe!" I said the practiced speech. Nothing was a lie in it but giving so many speeches in one life time, it just got kind of easy to say the words.

People exploded with clapping again but I didn't move until they died away.

"Now, I guess you guys have noticed that my co-CEO didn't make it. I'm sorry to say that Tony is working right now, very diligently for the safety of all of us. He wants me to tell all of you how honored he is to receive this very prestigious award." I lied straight through my teeth. The only ones who would know that though would be Rhodey, Obadiah, and Pepper. "It's really the best thing about Tony, and of course the worst thing. He's always working." I smiled at them. The cameras shot off again and the clapping was noticeably smaller but still quite loud. I carefully stepped off the steps, Rhodey helped me down the stairs, because he was done as well. I make sure to grab Tony's award in my other hand so I could give it to him.

Twenty minutes later, the entire ceremony was done. They'd saved our award for last, but then I'd stayed back at the table to avoid the rush to leave. Obadiah Stane sat beside me, and Pepper on my other side. I'm not as close with Obadiah as Tony is, because he's Tony's father figure. Pepper though, she's my best friend. You'd think we wouldn't get along at all. I was born into money, raised in money, and even made more money. Pepper had to work for every penny she had and then some more work. I'd been there the day she'd been hired by Tony to. She'd waltzed in trailing behind Obadiah. He'd commended the very ground she walked on while Pepper blushed until she almost even matched her red hair.

I sighed as Pepper took down another champagne glass of what I have expected was generic red wine. It's a pity; I have some vanilla rum at my home that would suit the situation much better. No doubt she'd have to deal with Tony tomorrow and now she'd probably do it with a hangover. She went to take down another one but I reached out and took it from her grasping hands. "Pep, I think enough is enough." I chided lightly. Obadiah chuckled beside me.

"It's just not fair." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. I felt sorry for her all over again. She may get paid a great deal more than most personal assistants but putting up with Tony Stark is an art. I've long since mastered it, being his friend since I was still in pampers had me mastering it to a degree that I don't think anyone but Obadiah, who has also known Tony _and _his father since Tony was born, could reach.

I leant over to Obadiah and rolled my eyes. "I don't think she's in any shape to go find Tony." I said, eying her as she giggled. Pepper doesn't usually drink…in public. I sighed and Obadiah's smile was tight but I didn't understand why. It wasn't like this was the first time that she had been drunk and he had taken her home.

I picked up my small green purse that had matched so well with this outfit. It really was a magnificent forest green dress, short and just barely formal enough for this event. Not that it would matter because the one man who I wanted to see hadn't even noticed. Rhodey approached me now in his air force uniform. He'd dressed up in it to give the award to us, after I had begged him. I'd hoped if his best friend was presenting the award then Tony would have come to the award ceremony. I should have known from the beginning that he wouldn't have done it. Tony never likes doing anything because he _has _to.

"He's in the casino." Rhodey supplied to me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I kind of expected him to be gone already.

"Which one?" I asked him. Obadiah was leading Pepper away, whispering in her ear furiously. I frowned at him. That was uncharacteristic of him; I wonder what's going on with those two this evening. First Pepper gets drunk and all sad and then Obadiah is getting angry with her for it when he's usually so in control of himself and laughing. I shook off the feeling that something wasn't right, for now. Whatever was worrying those two so much would have to wait for when Tony and I came back from Afghanistan.

"The one in this hotel." Rhodes muttered. I winced. Of course, just to spit everyone Tony would get here and then just decide to go to the casino. I swear, the guts that man has…if I didn't admire the fact that he could get away with that, I'd probably be mad right about now.

I chuckled anyway and took the arm that Rhodes offered me. He was furious; it showed all over his face to. He wasn't good at controlling his emotions in front of the press, mostly because he hasn't grown up having cameras pointed in his face all the time. If my parents did one thing, it was to make sure I knew how to handle myself in a calm and professional manner.

Rhodes guided me through the greatly diminished crowd and through the large entrance hall. It didn't take us that long to reach the casino part of the hotel. It was full to the brim with its loud colors and machines. There were so many people and half of them were surrounding one table in particular. I didn't even have to wonder where my best friend, that's right the guy I'd been complaining about is my best friend, was stationed in this room. Anywhere with a crowd like that is where Tony is.

I released Rhodey's arm to see if I could get through the crowd and to Tony. It took a lot of work but once one woman, with fake hair I might add, realized who I was and stated it to everyone in the room, I could get all the way to Tony. The woman, who ever she was, had screamed my name so he probably knew I was here now. He stood at the table with a glass of probably the finest scotch this place had to offer in his hand.

Tony wore a gorgeous maroon button up shirt that he currently had unbuttoned so that everyone could just get a glimpse of the toned muscle and tanned skin that lay underneath his clothing. His dark brown hair was slicked back and a pair of maroon tinted shades covered what I knew to be mesmerizingly, dark brown eyes. He had sleek, tailored black pants and he has his signature facial hair.

He's like walking sex personified.

I know what you're asking yourself. Who thinks their best friend is walking, talking sex? Well, someone who's in love with their best friend that's who. I can't remember exactly when I fell in love with him, but I can remember the day he told me he was in love with Pepper, right after I'd talked myself into telling him I was in love with him. Thank God I at least didn't tell him before he told me that important information.

Now though, Tony was leaning against the body of a gorgeous brunette with long hair, red lips, and a short, almost too small for her body, black dress. She was running her hands down the aforementioned muscles that Tony and I had both worked hard for. I don't mean to brag but I took a keen interest in working out and I even helped Tony get the wonderful physique he now has. Though, to be honest, I thought maybe if I helped him that he'd finally see me as something more than just a friend. But who am I kidding? I'll always be a shadow to him.

"You are unbelievable." Were the first words out of my mouth to him. He turned from the woman in front of him to look at me and he groaned.

"Did they rope you into this?" Tony groaned in his deep husky voice. I almost sighed at hearing it again. Instead I sighed because I was amused.

"Rope me into what exactly? Trying to get you to work?" I teased him. He grinned at me, showing all of his bright, naturally that way, teeth. God, his smile…sometimes I just want to screw him sideways. "Please, I gave up on getting you to do _anything _when I was nine and you threw away my Alice and Wonderland book just to spite me." I told him but it seemed that Rhodey didn't agree with my 'give up' philosophy. He pushed his way past me but I lost concentration on them for a moment so I could talk to Happy.

Happy Hogan was Tony's bodyguard, and he's put up with Tony ever since Happy saved Tony's life. It was back when Howard had just died. Someone thought it would be a good idea to target Tony at the funeral. I'd watched as Happy, who'd been there because his father was Howard's bodyguard, jumped in front of a bullet for Tony. He's been on our payroll ever since.

"Happy, could you go ahead and get Tony's car ready? And have the Valet pull my car around?" I asked him. He nodded at me and disappeared in the crowd. While Happy was also Tony's chauffer, I had long decided to have as few people on my personal payroll as possible. Seeing as how Mom was killed by our butler I thought it was a pretty good idea in the end. I have a few people that I've checked the background out of at least twice a week that clean my house.

I checked back in with Rhodey and Tony, just to make sure that Rhodes really hadn't taken Tony out. You never know, one day Tony might actually step on one toe to many.

"-presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honored." Rhoedes was saying. I slipped up close to them and rolled my eyes as the crowd tried to get closer to Tony and I. Some male, with a butch haircut and piercing in both eyebrows and three in the side of his lip hesitantly handed me a piece of paper and a pen. I scribbled my name on it for him and smiled warmly. Just because he freaked me out didn't mean I couldn't be nice. I turned back to Tony and Rhodes but I heard the guy say something that mysteriously sounded like, 'I'm in love.' But I digress.

"Of course I'd be deeply honored. And it's you, that's great. Isn't that great Anna?" Tony turned to me and smiled, pleading with me to save him from another of Rhodes' lectures. Rhodes has known Tony for two years, you'd think by now he'd stop getting so mad at his antics. Of course, Pepper's known him four years and she's advanced to where she drinks just to get away from Tony's annoying persona. I don't see what everyone is always so pissed at him for, he's only being himself. Of course, I do kind of understand that some things are important and Tony doesn't quite understand that.

"It was fabulous." I deadpanned, and shoved Tony's apogee award into his chest. I'm not going to lie; I did it mostly to feel just exactly what that brunette had been feeling. And, God it felt good. Tony winced and took the award from me while Rhodes fumed beside us.

"There it is." Tony looked the award over. "That was easy." Then he turned to Rhodes and for a second seriously apologized. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, it's okay." Rhodes said. I could still see a little anger in his eyes but I could also see that he was slowly growing accustom to Tony's way of doing things. After tonight, there is no doubt in my mind that Tony will try and do something over the top to try and make up for it and if it isn't over the top then it's going to be so subtle that you won't even know it was him until you've already forgiven him.

"Wow, don't have any of those floating around." Tony muttered to me and I rolled my eyes and smiled. The crowd was larger now, and Tony had to shuffle forward toward me to avoid getting crushed. As his body moved closer his pelvis was pressed against mine and I nearly looked to the heavens and asked myself why. I barely resisted.

He grinned apologetically at me but all it did was make that little crack in my heart go a little farther. I swear, ten more months and I'll be one of those celebrities that end up going to a mental asylum. It didn't help that I could feel his breath blowing on my face, minty fresh to. He, with one hand, pushed some chips out onto the board and grabbed the red and white dice.

"We're gonna let it ride." Tony said and then he put his hand holding the dice up to – surprise, surprise – the brunette's face. "Give me a hand, will you? Gimme a little something-something." He said. Trying to be sexy the brunette blew her Botox injected lips on his hand. Then to my surprise he turned, moving his hips again against mine, and held them in front of my face. I rolled my eyes skyward. "Okay, you to." He told me.

"I don't blow on dice." I said and was it just me or did his eyes just dilate? Na, probably just me. It was always just me because he almost always does something after it that puts me back into the 'childhood friend' zone.

"Come on, honey bear." He pouted cutely. He even poked his lip out, going the whole nine yards. He even slid his eye-shades down his nose and looked me directly in the eyes with his gorgeous mouthwatering gaze. And guess what? I crumbled. Taking a deep breath, and hoping my breath didn't smell like that chicken I ate at the ceremony I blew on the dice. For a moment nothing changed but Tony and I's eyes stayed locked together. And then the moment ended. Tony's eyes were defiantly dilated, but I couldn't make sure because he moved back, breaking contact with me. He was still smiling though. I frowned because if it had been my breath then he would have told me – being my annoying best friend.

He threw the dice down on the table and I could see Rhodes mouth opening, about to start lecturing him again. "Winner." The dealer called. I rolled my eyes as all of the chips on the table were pushed to Tony.

"Congrats." I sarcastically said. Tony smirked and motioned to someone beside himself.

"Color me up, William." Tony said and then turned back to me. "All right, you ready to go then?" He asked me. I snorted and for a moment I even thought about telling him that I wasn't going anywhere with him, just to see what he'd do but alas, I didn't. Instead I nodded.

'William' soon had the chips together. Rhodes, being the beef cake that he is, pushed everyone out of the way for us so that we could get out. Tony was behind me as we left; he even put on his jacket. The William guy went and switched out the chips for cash, though he had to almost run. Tony promised him half of it if he got it to us before we left.

He made it back in five minutes. Apparently there was three million in chips. I nearly laughed at the face the teenager made when Tony just waved off his amount of the money. We made it all the way to the entrance hall again and to the doors.

"This is where I exit." Rhodes said and shook Tony's hand, and we kissed each other on the cheeks. "Tomorrow, don't be late." He pointed at Tony as he walked away. I rolled my eyes as Tony put his arm around my shoulders so we didn't get split up.

I couldn't help but to think about the trip to Afghanistan. Only Tony would want to go to a war zone to demonstrate weapons.

"Yeah, you can count on it." Tony said as he pointed back. I could just see the 'probably not going to happen' running through Rhodes head. I had my purse in one hand, and the apogee award in the other and it was horribly heavy. I couldn't give it away though, but that didn't mean that Tony couldn't do it with his. Now that Rhodes was gone he could do it without him even knowing, at least until it came up in the media or something.

So when we passed a couple that was desperately looking through their luggage for something, Tony pushed it into the hands of the obvious new bride. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. There you go." And then he just kept walking. I snorted and waved at them as we walked out the door. As I suspected there were a group of reporters waiting out there. I put on the obviously fake smile that in every one of my photos you could tell didn't reach my eyes.

"So, are you coming back to the mansion? We could work on the laser system for the next version of the Jericho." Tony remarked, releasing me from under his arm as we made it past the people. Now walking around us were our bodyguards, all of them having been silently making sure we weren't absolutely mobbed.

I opened my mouth to reply but as I did I heard someone running up behind us. We'd reached Tony's car now but that didn't stop me from groaning when someone called out to us.

"Ms. Vinci! Mr. Stark!" She called. The bodyguards stopped her and I looked back. It was the atypical female reporter. They look pretty, do themselves up to look gorgeous, get a few things nip and tucked, just so that they might entice you into telling them all of your little secrets. "Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine." She stated. "Can I ask you two a couple of questions?" Though she said two, I could see she only had eyes for Tony.

"She's cute." Happy muttered. I let out a long suffering sigh. I could already tell, as Tony turned around, that the previous offer he'd made me to spend some time with me had flown off into the wind, never to be seen again. This is the part about Tony that I don't like. I want the Tony who loved to spend time with me, who enjoyed trying to work problems that, at our age, we had no business doing. I miss the Tony who would never blow me off for some pretty girl, or drink until I had to rub his back in the bathroom on the floor.

"Well," I false smiled. "I'm afraid I don't have any time. I'm sure Tony can answer any questions you might have." My fake smile dropped as I walked away, towards where I could see my beautiful sleek black Lamborghini waiting. It soothed me to see it because it had been a gift from Tony for my last birthday. Normally I wasn't a car person but the Lamborghini was my dream car, and Tony had seen to it that I'd gotten it. It reminded me, every time I saw it, why it was I loved Tony. Under all of his layers of annoyingness and cockiness, Tony really was a person who if he cared about someone he'd make sure they were taken care of and happy.

I slid into my beautiful car and threw my purse into the passenger side seat and wasted no time in throwing a wrinkled hundred at the valet and driving off. I was ready to get home. I have a standing date with a box of Ben & Jerry's vanilla and caramel ice cream.

"I'm hopeless!" I muttered to myself. I was completely in love with him but he didn't see me as more than that shadow that follows him around. If I just quit this wouldn't be a problem. All I'd have to do is attend a few meetings at Stark & Vinci Industries as an owner, where I would see him but otherwise I would be busy doing other stuff. I could retake over my father's company; my father was partnered with Howard Stark to create the company but Howard had given up the rights to my father when he focused on Stark Industries.

Howard Stark had the money and the resources to help with making it and my father had the man power. The company was full of spies, and people unnaturally talented in preventing end of the world scenarios. If I remember the status updates that I get in the mail correctly, Agents go on missions and save the world from psychopaths who want to do different kinds of things that would be bad for the whole world. It's not part of the government like I used to think when I was a kid but it does answer to the World Council. I don't think we should, and the last time I checked the Director I appointed didn't think so either but who really likes their boss? Unless you're me and you're in love with your boss.

I blinked out of my revere as I finally pulled into the driveway of my house. It took three minutes alone just to get to the house from the driveway. I'd had to buy out everyone around me so that I could put up a fence. People had started trying to get into my house to see me when I became actively famous.

The house itself is my main house. I have so many in places that I don't even remember most of them, but I do have a list, somewhere. My house is free and open, with most of the security being in the fence and the hidden technology. It was made of mostly windows and wood with multiple rooms inside. When you came up to it you were on the first floor which was carved into the side of a cliff on the Malibu coast line. Then you could go inside there to the entrance hall or you could head up the stairs on the side and walk past the pool and inside from the balcony. It was even better on the inside, with beautiful open rooms. I had a workout room where I spent three hours every day, and three living rooms my black and white bedroom and a lab in the basement for my secret passion in engineering and chemistry.

I parked my car inside the garage and hopped out to walk up the stairs. I glanced at the pool longingly but there was no way I had time to go swimming. What I needed to do was sit down in my study or on my bed and get some of this paperwork that's been piling up in my study done. I walked through my halls, with all of the pretty pictures. They weren't expensive abstract pictures that no one really cares about, like you would think of me. Instead they were all of drawings fans of mine have made. My favorite, a painting of me and Tony standing with each other in formal attire but with mischievous smiles on our faces, was done by a fan who was a professional. I thought it spoke clearly of our friendship.

"Welcome home, Miss Vinci." Jarvis' smooth voice flooded through my mind as I entered my study to grab my paperwork. I felt a sense of nostalgia. I remember the first day I'd come home with him in my house. I'd nearly throttled Tony for putting him in. But then Tony said something so sweet that I'd had to keep Jarvis.

"I know you don't like butlers ever since…your mother…so I just made you one that can't possibly hurt you in any way possible. Plus, Jarvis is state of the art and can not only take care of you, but also tell me all of your dirty little secrets."

I'd nearly melted into a puddle of Anna goo. He can be so sweet sometimes. Other times I think he does it on purpose just to keep me buttered up for when he does something wrong. Well, I showed him… "Good Evening Jarvis."

I flopped onto my black and white themed bed and for a moment I contemplated just going to sleep, but I've got responsibilities, people counting on me. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and started on the top file in a box that was at least five feet thick. I paused for a second and glanced at the clock. "Jarvis, don't let me work for more than two hours and have Dummy 2 pack me a bag for Afghanistan tomorrow." I told him while I looked curiously on this week's report from S.H.I.E.L.D. it looked more or less like the Director didn't believe that I even read these. It was scribbled half-heartedly and in a fast manner.

"Make a note to get in touch with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future." I told Jarvis again.

"Yes ma'am." He returned. I sighed and got down to work.

Two hours passed pretty quickly, and after Jarvis' reminder I shuffled all of the paperwork onto my desk in the corner of my room so that I could go do my two hour work out, with a one hour workout in the morning, and then I took a shower and was off to bed.

**I know I've been out of commission for a long time, but I'm hoping that this is worth it. I absolutely love what I've done with it, for the most part, and though there are mistakes, I hope you love it. I've been working really hard for this to come out as close to awesome as I can get it. I've even been doodling their names together on scrap pieces of paper, and picking out pictures for them and everything. So please tell me if you love it.**

**Here's the disclaimer for the entire story: I don't own Ironman or anything you recognize from it. I do own Anna. **

**This is one of my favorite movies, and Tony is my most favorite of all superheroes, including in the Avengers. I know Iron man 3 is coming out but I can't plan for that so I might end up not putting a sequel for that. We'll get to it when it comes. However I do plan to go through the Avengers.**


	2. Heightens Each Sensation

In the morning, after my one hour workout I headed out to the airport, and as per usual Tony was late. By a lot. At least three hours. Rhodes and I were here. While I sat inside the jet Rhodes was sulking in front of the jet's doors. I sighed and took a swig of my sweet tea, directly from the south. There isn't a reason for me to drink just yet but there will be if Tony doesn't make it here within three hours, which is how long we've been waiting so far.

"He's here." Rhodes stated, blankly and then he walked back out. It startled me, because I hadn't known he was even in the room to begin with. I sighed and buckled in as everyone rushed to get ready to finally take off now that Tony was here. I didn't even move from my spot at the white table. I'd had a rough time trying to sleep last night for some reason. I just made sure I had everything buckled down. I glanced up when Tony and Rhodes came in the room.

Rhodes was wearing his air force uniform again, but Tony was wearing a casual black shirt with a black leather jacket on with jeans covering his legs. He shuffled in to flop down on the seat next to me. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the work in front of me. I had gotten most of it done last night but as soon as I'd get it done there was even more to be completed. I sighed as they started talking beside me and closed the folder. I could do it soon; I'd just take a few minutes off. Besides we were already up in the air now.

"Good morning, sugar pie." Tony said to me, grinning. I smiled at him.

"Good morning, Tony." I said back then I looked at Rhodes, who was silently fuming over a newspaper. So he was going to try the silent treatment. I'll give him five minutes before Tony cracks him open. I reached over to Tony and grabbed the eye shades off his face and put them on to cover my eyes as I read over some miscellaneous sheets of numbers. "How was your morning so far?" I asked Tony and he jumped right at the question, as if he was just waiting for me to ask.

"I think I'm getting somewhere on the Pepper front." Tony stated. Great, fabulous, completely awesome. I looked at him and neatly placed the papers down on the table in front of us as he gave me a rough over view of his and Pepper's 'moment' this morning.

"Are you sure she wasn't just drunk?" I muttered. Tony's eyes furrowed.

"What?" He asked. I perked up and swiveled my chair to face him.

"Nothing." I said but he'd obviously heard me. "So, did you actually forget her birthday, or did you get her something?" I asked him conversationally, hoping he'd just take the change in subject. I, myself, had given her an upgrade on her phone. Stark & Vinci hadn't even released it yet but it was great, especially for P.A.'s.

"Uh…" Tony looked over my shoulder at a display on the T.V. of where we were in the world. "She went ahead and bought herself something with my money, does that count?" He asked me. I couldn't help the laugh that left me.

"No, Tony that doesn't count." I told him. I flipped off the sunshades so I could get serious with him. "Look. I'm going to be very clear and honest with you. You're good with seducing people, but you have no idea what it means to love someone." I told him. He opened his mouth to protest but I held up my hand. "But that's okay, because you have the lovely Lady Vinci on your side, despite your emotion confusion." I grinned at him and he looked halfway between offended and interested.

"All right, my Lady, then what do I do?" Tony smarmily asked but my heart fluttered none the less.

"First, learn things like her birthday, the day she started working for you, the day you first met. Then, on those days get her something and not something over the top and expensive, though that probably won't hurt later on when you mess up in the relationship. Generally we want something that means something sentimentally." I instructed. I felt like I was teaching him something that I was going to regret. Why am I doing this? I'm practically pushing him into her arms. I guess I'm just that good of a friend.

"Okay, sentimental, I can do that." Tony nodded along then he paused. I knew what was going through his mind.

"She started working with you as a P.A. on January 12th and since you've already missed her birthday, and she knows it, then work on that one. Uh, after that, she's going to have a suspicion most probably, so go get her some roses and profess your undying love to her." I finished dramatically before picking up the sun shades and sliding them back on. Tony continued staring at me and I could practically read his mind. He's thinking 'Really?'

"Yeah, maybe." Tony agreed to disagree. I could see the reluctance in his eyes. I just don't think it's in him to profess his love to someone. He'll probably just do some over the top thing and Pepper will say yes and they'll live happily, get married, and have babies. I'll just die alone with seventeen cats or more, I could probably fit a lot of cats in my house…

"What you reading platypus?" Tony _finally _asked Rhodes, who I could tell had only gotten angrier the more we'd ignored him. I grinned at him, and his grumpy face.

"Nothing." He answered shortly. Yep, he's just ripe for the busting. I'm feeling kind of playful this morning anyways.

"Come on, sour patch. Don't be mad." Tony pushed, while he started swiveling his chair. I picked up the folder again and contemplated opening it. It was easy stuff, just very tedious and not fun at all. I glanced at the T.V. screen instead and saw that we were already a good ways out over the Pacific Ocean.

"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?" Rhodes said, finally looking up from his paper. I don't know if Tony believed that lie, but I know for sure that he was still furious at Tony. I watched the stewardess behind Tony as she did something with a medal plate. I was broken out of that when another stewardess came up to our table and offered hot towels to us. I could tell they knew that Tony was coming, being that it's his plane I guess they were going to know anyways. I suppose what I was trying to say was I could tell she wanted to ride him like space mountain because she'd hiked her skirt up three inches and unbuttoned her uniform until almost everything was hanging out.

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm your man." Rhodes went on to say.

"Hot towel, Ms. Vinci?" The stewardess asked. I smiled and took it, wiping my hands off with it. As I handed it back she gave one to Tony. In the process of giving it to Tony her boobs nearly fell out into my face and for a moment, with her smirk at me, I was almost positive it wasn't just Tony she was trying to bed. I'd encountered these kinds of women before, but they'd never gone so far as to shove their boobs in my face. I shuffled away from her and more towards Tony who hadn't even noticed.

"Anna, I told him I was sorry." Tony whined. "but, he…"

"Yeah, I'd be angry at you to if I didn't already see it coming." I cut him off. I was practically in Tony's lap now trying to get away from the woman. She handed the snickering Tony a towel but he took pity and shooed her away with his hand. I took a deep breath and slid back into my seat. "Never get tired of that." I sarcastically muttered.

"I'm not angry, I'm just indifferent." Rhodes restated. "You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me." He said and the woman silently offered him a towel. Thankfully she didn't come any where near me again. I tried to regain my bearings.

"I respect you." Tony contradicted Rhodes' statement as Rhodes took the offered towel and just kept going like Tony hadn't even said anything.

"I'm just your babysitter." Rhodes said, finally letting the anger out some. "So, when you need your diaper changed…Thank you." He gave a belated thank you to the fast retreating woman. "Let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?" Rhodes said, wiping his hands off with the towel and glaring at Tony. Tony didn't even look offended; instead he stopped a passing stewardess.

"Hey! Heat up the sake for us will you?" Tony asked her then he looked at me. "You drink sake right?" He asked but I don't think he was looking for a real answer because he turned back to Rhodes. "Thanks for reminding me."

"No, I'm not talking…" Rhodes objected. "We aren't drinking. We're working right now." Rhodes stated and looked to me for help but I put my hands up.

"I've got work to do, so I'm not drinking." I told them both. I gathered up my folders and made to move away, maybe to a different room in the plane but Tony's calloused hand on my arm stopped me. I looked back and in return I got the full force of his pouting face. I groaned. "Tony, I really can't. I don't even like sake." I told him half heartedly.

"Then we'll order you some rum, that's your favorite right?" He asked and then looked to the stewardess to ask for some, even as she placed some sake on the table.

"Absolutely not." I stated, cutting him off. "One of us has to try and get some work done. You can drink all you want, even if I don't encourage it." I pointed at him and he snorted at me before turning to work on Rhodes some more. I took one moment to look at his messy, but finger losing, hair. God, I'd love to just sink my fingers in the mess of brown golden locks. I walked out of the room, balancing so that I didn't tumble over. There were a lot of closed off rooms in the plane/jet. It was an advanced model that Tony had actually designed. I remember we'd been on our way to 'shop' for homes and I'd been late to look at a home in California, where I now lived. Tony and I had missed out on the open house because the plane had been to slow.

I remember it so well because Tony had refused to let me look at the house alone in case someone tried to take advantage of me, which really isn't an option seeing as I have at least five lawyers on hand, just to make sure that I don't get swindled out of my money. Honestly, from the comments he made about my awesome house, it had seemed that he just hadn't wanted me to move out here for my main house. I could honestly be right, because when I'd decided I was going to buy it and then I started the legal process, Tony had his home made so that he could also move out here. It warmed my heart then, and it still does now.

Of course, having our head office planted there helped our decision to both move to Malibu. When I found a bedroom with no one in it, and my duffle bag in it, I dropped the folder down on the bed and tugged off my blue sweater, leaving me in a beige tank top and my black flats. I threw it over the back of a chair and rubbed my face. I sorely needed a vacation from this life. It's been a few years since I last had a real vacation. I'm almost always going places for work but I don't include them, because with Tony usually jet setting everywhere and not doing the work I end up doing it.

I gathered the folder together and started working.

The flight was going to be overnight so I had plenty of time to work, and I did for a long time. It was when I just finished balancing the last piece of accounting information that I sighed and closed the folder, stuffing it into my duffle bag while also pulling out some clothes so that I could get ready to sleep for the rest of the plane ride. First though I went in search of a bathroom with a shower, which I knew this plane had somewhere.

And then, I walked in on something that would scar me for life. All of the stewardess' were now dancing; some were even dancing around a pole. They were all in some sort of state of undress with champagne glasses in their hands. A no doubt drunk Tony and Rhodes sat on the couch. Tony was staring at the girls dancing but apparently even a drunk Rhodes couldn't stop lecturing Tony. Maybe that's how Rhodes copes with Tony's attitude. We all have one. Obadiah tends to work, Pepper drinks, I pick at him, and Rhodes lectures. Tony even has something to deal with all of us. When he finds us annoying he just gets more and more sarcastic and annoying in hopes you'll get fed up and leave.

I groaned when the women from before threw me a completely intoxicated grin and called out to me. "Ms. Vinci, would you like to join us?" She purred, or I think she tried but the stumbling really kind of ruined it. Now everyone, drunk or getting there (Tony), was looking at me. I snorted.

"Nope." I turned around and walked back down the hallway; bypassing my room so that I could find the bathroom if maybe it was in the other hallway. To my luck it was and in an hour I was cozily slipping off into a great sleep, even if it really wasn't that long since I'd last slept.

**Do you think I use I to much? I think I do. Hopefully I've fixed it in the chapters that I'm writing now but there are still a lot of I's. Oh well. I'm so glad that you gave me such a good response. I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

**SPOILER FOR THE STORY: COMPLETELY OPTIONAL TO READ**

**Oh, and by the way, Pepper is changed in this story, as are they all. She is not going to be a good guy. I know that gives away things about the plot, but I just wanted people to know that in case they didn't want to read. **

**Thank you!**


	3. Darkness Wakes and Stirs Imagination

"Are you sure you're okay?" I cautiously asked Rhodes. We were getting off of the airplane in Afghanistan, but Rhodes looked like he didn't get any sleep at all. I watched him warily, half expecting him to fall over the stairs of the jet. "You'd better walk in front of me." I said, pushing him through first. Tony was already on his way down the steps, in his professional business suit, not even a glimpse of a hangover. The only sign that he may even have one was the fact he'd pushed on glasses the moment he'd stepped into the sun.

When Rhodes finally made it down the steps, with no sunshades on, poor man, I cautiously walked down the steps myself, just expecting myself to fall. I wore a white sleeveless shirt made of silk with black scrunches around the top, a black jacket on over it, and some black slacks. My heels made clicking sounds as I moved forward to shake hands with the General who had already shook Tony's hand right before I made it there.

"Welcome, Mr. Stark, Ms. Vinci. We look forward to the weapons presentation." He told us. I was glad that I didn't give the presentations; I wasn't that good with words as bad as that sounds for a CEO of a company.

"Is it better to be feared or respected?" Tony started the presentation. They'd driven us down a 'secured' road to a place right beside some uninhabited mountains. I'd made them promise me that the place was uninhabited first before I'd even let this presentation go forth. "I say, is it too much to ask for both?"

Tony's beautiful suit, with a weird dark blue jewel tie, was gorgeous. I couldn't even see the bulletproof vest he had on under it. You couldn't see mine either, but that was mostly because I'd snuck on Tony's leather jacket to cover up any visible part of it.

"With that in mind, Ms. Vinci and I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark & Vinci's freedom line." Tony kept going. I was standing beside the launchers, prepared to do my part, which was to shoot the weapon at the mountains. All I needed to do was push a little button on the screen, the coordinates having already been typed in by me. All of the air force people, including Rhodes who had managed some sunshades were lined up to listen to Tony and they seemed eager, because our weapons are top notch.

"It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology." He informed them, and he wasn't even smiling. I guess this was all a serious matter but I couldn't help but feel that something was off about today. Was there really nothing in those mountains? "_They _say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I _respectfully _disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once." Tony stated then the speech became even more fast. "That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it." He paused for suspense. "And it's worked out pretty well so far." He turned to me and nodded. I checked all of the systems to make sure they were correct.

"Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves." He said and I pushed the button. Automatically the Jericho missiles moved to a line with the coordinates I'd specified and then just let loose. I watched the Jericho work, something that Tony and I had both worked on together.

"For your consideration, the Jericho." Tony said, and then just to look awesome he raised his arms, and a gust of sand and dirt rushed by, making the sight of him look awesome. I covered my own face as the sand rushed by my person and grimaced at the sand that was getting everywhere very fast. Tony barely even waited to shake hands with the General again, and to smile at Rhodes before he sauntered over to where I could see a high-tech cooler where I'm sure they had set up alcohol for Tony to drink. They always do and it drives me crazy. I don't want Tony to drink, but taking Tony away from a drink is as hard as permanently emptying a volcano, impossible.

"I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more" Tony grabbed one of the premade glasses of scotch as the cooler opened and I went so far as to grab a nice rum they had for me. It wasn't vanilla but I think I deserved a little something for my troubles. Maybe I could go to the Caribbean, or Italy for vacation. Who am I kidding? I've been saying I need a vacation for the last three years and I've yet to do it. I don't know what to blame for that. Maybe it was that I secretly loved my job, or maybe it's because I can't possibly leave Tony alone. What if he gets in trouble and I'm not there to get him out?

**Flashback **

"_**-Stark was a great man and an overachiever. He was a man who cared about America." The pews were all lined up. The church was huge but the world felt small. Howard Stark had died in an 'accident' four days ago. We caught the bastard who caused the 'accident' and are currently at Howard's funeral. I only felt the passing of another person. He was not a kind man, or a generous man. He was cunning, almost a soldier, and bitter down to the last atom of his being. **_

_**Maria, his wife had died in the car accident as well. She was no better. She barely even registered in my mind. She was the really cunning slut who'd managed to get pregnant by the billionaire when he was at his lowest. They'd only married out of necessity and my best friend, Tony was the problem they'd tried to hide. I hate her for that. I hate both of them for all of those times that Tony needed love and he couldn't find it anywhere.**_

_**I glanced at Tony. He'd been numb since the news had come in. I knew he didn't particularly like his father, but everyone feels an attachment to their parents, whether they want to or not. The only time that Howard showed Tony any acts of kindness, or affection was when Tony worked to accomplish something that even Howard had not. **_

_**Tony was skinny in general but he had only nibbled on things I'd been able to force on him, ever since the news. I remember we'd been playing by the beach when Nanny had come in to get us. Tony now looked more like a starved veteran than the heir to the Stark fortune. **_

_**He wore a completely black suit, that was slightly too big for him, and his hands laid uselessly about his sides. His eyes were listless, with no sign of my Tony anywhere in them. His lips were chapped, and his hair stuck to his head from not being washed for four days. I wished I could do something to help. Tony had been there for my parent's funeral, what had he done for me?**_

_**Tentatively, as the preacher continued to sing Tony's parents praises I threaded our fingers together. Tony looked at me in surprise and I winked at him before tugging him out of the pew and together we slipped out of the room. No doubt it would be all over the news but they could go to hell because I wanted to help Tony. I found us a small place behind the church, a small prayer room I believe.**_

_**I sat Tony down and our eyes met. I softly cupped his face. "Tony…" I muttered before closing my eyes and placing our foreheads together. I'd experienced the same thing with my parents, to every last achievement, granted most of mine wasn't in engines and robots. I knew though that Tony wouldn't want another person asking him if he's okay. **_

"_**Anna…" Tony's voice cracked and then he hesitantly wrapped his thin arms around me. I didn't hesitate to let him pull me to him so that he could squeeze me. "Th- And I-…" He quieted down, not knowing which question to ask me. **_

"_**I know." I softly said, opening my watering eyes to stare at the wall behind Tony. "It hurts, but you don't know why. I know you didn't like them but **_**everyone **_**misses their parents when they're gone." I whispered to him. His arms tightened farther but I didn't mind. Tony needed me and I needed him.**_

"_**What am I supposed to feel Anna? They were cruel people. They didn't love me, and left me to be brought up by someone else. All they ever did was critique me on everything I did. B-But I still feel…" Tony choked on his words and he finally broke down crying. I squeezed my arms where they had woven around his shoulders as he hugged me into his lap. He buried his face into my shoulder.**_

"_**You still feel torn up inside? Like you miss their presence? You still feel a little indifference, confusion, maybe even some hate?" I asked him and he pulled back from my shoulders to look at me. His eyes were red from crying but Tony looked beautiful. His eyes were wide with his vulnerability and he had a desperate look about him. "And, you feel like you don't have anyone left?" I asked him softly. His entire body shuddered with the nod he gave me.**_

"_**Well, then let me put your fears aside." I told him, smoothing back his hair. "I swear on pain of death that I will always stay beside you Tony Stark. I'll be there when you need support, or just when you need a friend. I'll be a shadow behind you or beside you, until you don't need me anymore. When you find your sun, then I'll leave. But you'll have me for however long you need me to be there." I pledged holding my hand up, palm out flat to him. And finally, finally Tony smiled that shy little smile, not unlike the one he'd given me when we first met. **_

"_**Then you'll always be my friend." Tony said and I grinned at him.**_

"_**Good."**_

I think that's when I fell in love with him. He had needed me so much right then. No one had ever _needed _me before. For me, there was never an option of leaving Tony, because as long as Tony wanted me there I was going to stay. Was it selfish to keep staying? I don't think so.

I followed Tony silently to the humvee, even as his phone rang and Obadiah called. How peculiar, Obadiah almost never calls Tony unless there's some kind of emergency at the company. As I half listened I felt my own phone beep. I pulled it out to see Pepper had texted me something. It didn't make any since. 'I'm not sorry but I will miss you.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?

I sighed and shut the cell phone down. I wasn't going to answer. Maybe she was just drunk and trying to enjoy her time away from Tony. I suppose it could be then. Unless there was something wrong with the company or maybe she was just…Who knows, I'll deal with her and Obadiah when I get back. I climbed into the humvee before Tony and realized that I was going to be sitting on the ground. I groaned and sat down on the hard floor of the humvee.

"Sorry this is the fun-vee." Tony said to Rhodey. I waved at him half-heartedly. I was already uncomfortable with my position. I'm just glad I'd decided not to wear a dress like Jarvis had packed for me. "I can't believe you." I muttered when Tony smirked at me as he sat down on the seat.

"You can sit in my lap if you want." Tony offered, sipping his scotch. I answered by turning on some music to drown out Tony. Then after a few minutes I grumbled as my butt began to ache more. I glanced at Tony and he shifted his sunshades down his nose. We stared at each other.

"You are an asshole." I half-heartedly told him as I climbed up, the humvee was already moving now and the soldiers had climbed in to protect us. I was very tentative to sit on Tony's lap. I didn't want to squish him with my weight. Tony snorted when I sat on the edge of his knee and took me by the hips and pulled me solidly against him. I grimaced and downed the rest of my rum.

It was quiet for a long time, but Tony couldn't possibly let it be quiet. He just kept staring at me. "Why are you looking at me with such concern?" I asked him, finally.

"Why don't you do anything with your hair?" Tony asked me. My eyes turned into slits as I slowly turned my head to glare straight at him. He flinched but tunneled on in his dangerous path. "I mean, don't girls usually like to dye their hair or something? It's been the same since I can remember." Tony commented. I screwed up my face and slapped his arm.

"Give it up now. I'm not cutting my hair, or dying it." I stated in a firm voice. I loved my hair this exact way. I've never changed it because I've never felt a need to change it. At all.

For a few minutes Tony was quiet though he pouted out the window. I fumed for the first few minutes but my anger was short lived, as it always is around Tony. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Tony started talking again.

"I feel like you are taking me to a court martial." Tony told them. He casually had his hands around my waist, to keep me from jumping off his lap and onto the ground from the bumps we were hitting. "This is crazy what did I do?" Tony asked them and turned to the man beside us, younger than us I could tell. He had a cute little orange bracelet on his arm, but it was the only way I could tell him from the other soldiers who all wore camouflage. "What, you aren't allowed to talk? Hey, Forest!" I hit Tony's hand where it laid.

"Tony, stop picking on them!" I ordered. Tony turned to me and argued.

"I feel like they're going to pull over and snuff me." Tony told me.

"That's ridiculous." I snorted at him. "They are soldiers, and this is not a movie." I told him, rolling my eyes at his insane theory.

"W-We can talk, sir." The soldier beside us finally answered Tony. I smiled at him for being so brave. A lot of people don't have the guts to talk to Tony because Tony's world is very different from a normal person's world. Tony and I were born into privilege and have seen very little of the poor scene. Well, I've seen some of it when Angelina took me with her to get her little one.

"Oh, I see. So it's personal?" Tony asked the entire humvee. He was just getting offended, trying to make them talk to him. Good old Tony. I smiled when the soldier driving answered him.

"No, you intimidate them." She said. I stared at her.

"You're a woman?" I asked at the same time that Tony stated, "Good God, you're a woman." I twisted around so I could lean my back against the door and smile at Tony as well. He grinned back, showing those perfect whites.

"I honestly…I couldn't have called that." Tony told her, I guess he was trying to make up for his mistake without saying sorry. Who knows with Tony.

"Well, that's just insulting her Tony." I picked at him. He grimaced at me playfully and pinched my side. I wiggled away from him again, trying to move away as I squealed. Tony had to grab me as we hit a bump and I almost fell off of his lap. I could feel the flush coming over my face. He had me completely against him now and I could feel every bit of him, even the muscles of his stomach which tensed when my back pressed against them.

"I mean, I'd apologize, Anna, but isn't that what we're going for here?" Tony continued and we both looked to the laughing soldiers in the car. "I thought of her as a soldier first." Tony announced as if that cleared him of his sins.

"I'm an airman." She answered, not laughing but even the two soldiers were trying to hold in their laughter. I placed a hand over my mouth to hold the laughter in. Tony just kept trying to dig himself out of the situation.

"You have, uh actually, excellent bone structure, there." He said, taking a swig of the scotch he still held in his hand. I braced myself on the door of the hummer as we hit another bump in the dirt road. "I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now." Tony joked. "Is that weird?" Finally none of us could hold our laughter in and the soldiers and I laughed at Tony's remark.

They seemed to try to hold it in. "Come on, it's okay, laugh." I told them and they chuckled along with me, even the airman. The man in front of us who sat slightly turned to us starting speaking next.

"Sir, I have a question to ask." He stated. Tony nodded at him.

"Yes, please." Tony answered him.

"Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?" He asked. I continued to smile, I even snorted but on the inside my heart tightened. Like I needed another reminder of Tony's former lovers he already has enough of them now. Instead of saying anything I took Tony's sunshades off of him and slid them onto my face, again.

"That is an excellent question." Tony answered, not even breaking a sweat over me taking his sunshades. I did it almost every time he wears them. I don't know why but his sunshades are always wonderful. "Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict." Tony said. Just to feel like part of the conversation I finished for him.

"_Thankfully," _I sarcastically added, "The Christmas cover was twins." I told the soldier.

"Behave." Tony mockingly ordered. I rolled my eyes and pinched his leg, making it jump and knee me. I winced while Tony smirked at his small victory. "Anything else?" Tony asked and I stared as the soldier beside us, with the little orange wrist band hesitantly held up his hand.

"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?" I slowly asked him. He flushed before smiling at me.

"Is it cool if I take a picture with you two?" He asked in a small voice.

"Yes." I answered, and true to our being friends for so long Tony practically read my mind.

"It's very cool." He finished my answer. I moved out of the seat and placed my knees on the painful floor so that I could get in the middle of the picture. The boy had retrieved a camera from one of the small, mysterious packs on him, and handed it to the man up front. I shuffled around as Tony leant in for the picture as well as the boy.

"I don't want to see this on your facebook page." I warned him jokingly.

"Or Myspace." Tony warned. I stared weirdly at him. He did know that no one got on myspace anymore didn't he? Probably. I'm not saying that I get on facebook, but our company has a page so he does know doesn't he. I shrugged it off and smiled as the boy threw up a peace sign.

"Please, no gang signs." Tony asked mockingly. The boy hastily took his hand down. Tony grinned. "No I'm kidding." He told him motioning back at the boy's hand. "Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace." Tony muttered the last part. I slapped his arm and smiled for the camera. It took a moment and I think the man was having trouble with the buttons.

"Come on. Hurry up." The boy anxiously told us, probably embarrassed but you'd be surprised how many people couldn't get their cameras to work. "Just click it. Don't change any settings." He said.

And then something happened that changed my life. I'll never really understand if it was for the better or for worse. I watched as if it was in slow motion as something flashed through the hot afghan sun and hit the side of the hummer in front of us and red hot flames pushed it over onto its side, off the road and engulfed the makings of the car until it exploded on sight. I was sent flying backwards as the car screeched to a sharp hault.

I groaned and quickly pushed up from the floor to scramble back to the place between Tony and the boy. "Shit!" He exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Tony asked. I could tell that he was out of it with wide eyes and trembling hands. The glass of scotch had hit the floor and I could feel my hands sticking to it.

"Contact left!" The woman driver yelled and Tony looked around not getting an answer.

"What have we got?" Tony asked desperately. I couldn't even get my mouth to move with my shock. What happened? They said that this place was secure and safe! How could they lead us into unsafe territory? I watched in horror as the woman kicked open the door. I thought it was going to really turn into an action movie and she was going to start kicking butts and taking names but what I saw instead was the red blood that smeared on the window behind her as bullets pierced her body and she fell to the ground.

I stumbled back against Tony, trying to get away from the sight of it. "Jimmy stay with Stark and Vinci!" I heard the other guy scream and again I watched him get out and sneak around to the front of the vehicle.

"Stay down!" 'Jimmy' screamed at us.

"Yeah!" I screamed back, incapable of putting the sarcasm my brain had wanted into it. I crouched to the ground, and pulled Tony off of his seat and on to the ground. He was staring with me as we watched the man who had just been about to take a picture of us get shot straight through his head, the bullet cracking the glass but safely lodging there. I screamed and clutched Tony's waist. He tucked me in his arms as he looked to Jimmy.

"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy screamed, cocking his gun and preparing to get out. He opened the door and I scrambled for him.

"A gun, something please!" I screamed after him but he shut the door, maybe not even hearing me, even though Tony was pleading for the same thing behind us.

"Stay here!" Jimmy enunciated, turning to fight. This death, of all of them that had happened since the two minutes it had been since that first missile hit the hummer, had to be the worst for me to witness. It wasn't a bullet through the head, or heart. This one was multiple bullets. The even pierced the hull of the hummer. I watched Jimmy's body hit the ground through the window, barely registering the pain of a bullet wound in my shoulder. Tony tugged me to him, his face as white as I'm sure mine was.

Things had almost happened like this before, but they were always shut down. Like the time some one tried to kill Tony at Howard's funeral or that time a stalker who was in love with me tried to kidnap me. We'd always gotten out of it before it got serious but it was beyond serious now, it was painful.

Strangely I realized, as I watched, that they were blowing the hummers one by one. I grabbed Tony's shoulders. He met my eyes and I knew he had realized to. I looked for something, any kind of weapon but nothing was here. Tony grabbed my hand and our eyes met again. Then he nodded and I nodded back. We had to get out of here before they blew up our hummer. Tony opened the door and stumbled out, still holding my hand. I followed him, tugging him away from a blast that was almost to close. Tony tugged me until we ducked behind a large enough rock.

I fumbled for my cell phone as Tony did his. I saw the screen lit up with the same message from Pepper. "I'm not sorry but I will miss you?' That's what I read when suddenly there was a whisking sound and a large thunk in front of Tony and I. I looked up at the same time Tony did. All I saw was the Stark & Vinci Symbol. I screamed and shuffled backwards as fast as I could but my stilettos, which amazingly had made it this far, wouldn't move in the sand and before I knew it the delayed mine went off. It registered with me that I knew this model and make.

I heard Tony's grunt beside me as the pain blossomed in my chest, the part that the mine had really hit home. I couldn't think through the pain that started. I couldn't remember what the mine did, but I knew that if it really was built at Stark & Vinci then I may not live long enough to do any kind of living.

"Tony?" I whispered, trying to crawl around. My voice came out sluggish. I managed to turn enough to see him laying there a few feet away, having been hit as well. My head was punded and liquid was starting to coat my forehead and I couldn't see anything but blurs. I could see him in pain though, as much as I was. My inability to concentrate was making it hard to tell. "Tony!" I tried to yell but the pain just got worse and worse until suddenly black started taking over my vision and the pain took over every sense before I blacked out and felt nothing.


	4. Silently the Senses

I don't remember what quite happened after the bomb hit. I know I woke up for a few moments, just a few to see myself in front of a camera, and someone beside me. My chest still hurt painfully, horribly, life-threateningly. _Oh God where is the relief? _But my arms were tied up behind my back, and my head was being pulled back via my hair, I could do nothing. I screamed as someone dug their fingers into the bullet wound on my arm and the pain in my chest worsened by the second. Someone must be digging their claws into my heart. I heard an answering scream of my name from somewhere.

"Anna!" I heard a male voice. I knew that male voice. It's deep, rich tones and it's beauty. My eyes, bloodshot and leaking salty, burning tears met the sight of a banged up Tony Stark, with wounds bleeding from bandages on his chest and dirty scraps of clothing hanging from him. A video camera in front of us both.

"Tony!" I screamed, fighting. I had to help him, whether it hurt or not. God it hurt. Every movement sent pain that went beyond any kind of pain that I've ever experienced. Tony needed me; I promised that I'd be there for him. "No!" I screamed as someone hit Tony over the head, right before I was thrown into the world of the unconscious myself.

Then there were flashes where I woke up in unbearable pain, so much worse from before and I screamed until even my throat hurt. Men over me, my arms and legs being held down. Someone sticking something circular in my chest. I screamed as my heart beat erratically against something medal. A smelly cloth being held over my mouth, vaguely my mind registered chloroform as I sunk into oblivion for a while longer.

The final time I awoke it wasn't with a start, or with a clang. It was with the smooth sailing of someone who had just awoken from a lazy nights sleep. My eyes fluttered, wondering why I hurt so much and why my soft imported Egyptian bed was so hard and had so many sharp twists. I flinched when I tried to move, a pain rocketing through my body.

"You should not move, Ms. Vinci." I heard a highly accented voice call. That's when I felt the hand in my own. I opened my eyes and the events of the last hours came back to mind. I was no longer tied down, but chained to the floor. They were heavy enough, and my body aching enough that I couldn't possibly move on my own if I wanted to. My eyes glanced around. I looked for any sign of something familiar. Instead I found jutting rock, and blackness, one overhead light that flickered with disuse. I startled as I looked into the warn, tired eyes of an old man with sharp features. I wanted to back up, to move but even the thought of moving with the horrible, horrible pain in my chest that consumed seventy-five percent of my brain process made me ache more.

"I am sorry, Ms. Vinci that you are in so much pain." The accented man said. He seemed to understand my panic. "I am not one of your captors." He rushed to tell me, still holding my limp hand. I didn't even have the strength to tense the muscles of my hands. "I am a doctor that was also captured, to keep you and Mr. Stark alive." He informed me. I opened my mouth, it was so dry, and my throat hurt so much. What was this thing in my mouth, and nose. I groaned and the man understood. "Hold on, I will remove the oxygen feed." He told me, and I watched his every move.

Slowly, and with great pain he drug the tube that had apparently been feeding my prone body oxygen out from my dry throat and out of my nose. I choked when it slid out of my nose. I had a coughing fit, in which the 'doctor' had to hold my shoulders down so that I would not move my body. I don't think I could possibly handle it if I did feel any more pain.

"Tony?" I croaked, and coughed some more. The doctor fumbled for something and then held to my utter happiness he held up a cup of water with what looked to be a straw hanging out of it.

"You can not sit up to drink, so you must drink from this straw." He told me. I took small drinks from the lukewarm water and nearly groaned as my throat burned with both happiness and pain. He gently took the water from me and I almost protested. However somewhere in my aching head I knew that drinking to much water at once would only make me hurt more than before.

"Tony?" I rasped again. He was no where to be seen. Actually, there was nothing to be seen. All there was in this small room was a large hole in the far corner of the room, that smelt up the entire room. A bathroom, my mind supplied. There was no since of light in the room besides the light bulb up top and a metal door with a slit in the middle of it, for slipping things through I would guess. The only even slightly advanced form of technology in the room seemed to be the camera on the wall in the corner of the room. Laying beside the doctor was an old beat up black dufflebag, a…car battery?, and a large porcelain jug of water with a rag.

"He is safe, for now." The doctor finally answered, his words slow so my mind could understand. "He is in much the same shape as you are except unconscious." The man informed me. He wore a white shirt, a vest and dirty slacks. All of it was dirty, stained, and sweaty. He wore wire glasses and his face was covered with stubble.

"Why..?" I rasped, almost coughing again but the fit passed. I wanted to ask what shape I was in, but I could barely make out one word, let alone enough to ask that question.

"The Ten rings, the people who have captured you and Mr. Stark, insisted that Stark is the priority so when I only had enough sedative to make sure Stark was out for the needed amount of time, so that he can work without pain distracting him, they insisted that I give him your portion." He informed me. I took a moment to figure it out, to weave it together. So I was in pain, but Tony wasn't. That was okay, wasn't it? I can't remember any more, I hurt too much.

"What's…" I tried but had to pause so he could feed me a few more sips of the delicious, probably filthy, water. "Wrong…me?" I asked him, my voice slurred. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and slowly, through the pain I could gather more thoughts then before.

"I removed all of the shrapnel I could…" He started and my _entire _body seemed to blink, sending shots of unimaginable pain through me, but it didn't stop my brain from remembering, the RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) the USM 11676 Stark/Vinci munitions version. Made to imbed it's shelling, and the bits of pointed medal in its casing into anyone that's inside or near its one kilometer range. Tony had been so proud of that one, because it had been his father's idea, but Howard had never finished it. "…but there is a lot left and it's headed into your left and right atrial septum." He told me.

He fumbled in his bag for a moment for something and I took that time to gather myself. I couldn't believe that I was in this situation. It had never crossed my mind that if I combined my company with one which specialized in weapons, that someone would go to such lengths to get me captured. I'd only thought about expansion, protecting the family name. That's what mom drilled into me. And here I'd genuinely thought that I might have been doing some good, protecting America, my birth place. Look what that got me.

The man pulled out of his bag two things, and in my haze I recognized a dirty, blood-stained jar, and a square mirror. He fumbled with the jar and then held it close to my face. "This is the shrapnel that is in your body right now. These were inside of Stark and you." He told me. As I looked closely I could see the pointed barbs that were now trying to do their job in my body. I remember them now in the back of my mind. I can remember a hazy moment when Tony and I had been laughing over the prototype, drinking coffee, and even joking over what to put in it. I remember joking about forks, knifes, and even phones. I wheezed in a breath, God it was hard to breathe.

"I-I remember making them, the grenade that hit us." I informed the man. What was my life, if all I'd accomplished was landing me here? How many other people didn't have captors who wanted them alive? All of those people, the innocent people that didn't do anything and yet my weapons took them away from the people who loved them, needed them even. I shuddered as the jar was placed away from me. Then the man held up the mirror, showing me what was now my chest.

I shuddered and my eyes watered at the sight of me. Most of my bosom was covered by bandages, but at this point I could care less. What really bothered me was the black hulk of something stuck inside my chest. I felt my breath coming faster and faster and my eyes widening. The circular black medal, with holes around its rims where I could see the inner workings. The skin around it was red, and grotesque with horrible scarring coming on already. Obviously I had not been out for long, a few days maybe. The pain was still killing me, and the skin around the medal was bright red with infection, and red, deep cuts that ran along where I'm guessing that my skin in my chest was cut out to fit the mass in. Now the tightness and pressure on my chest made more sense.

I concentrated on breathing as I tried to assess the damage. The scars ran along my chest, and one cut looked extra painful as it ran down my abdomen and under my right boob, no doubt from the actual injury. I'd been mighty close to it so it wasn't that big of a stretch to assume that I had gained some damage from the outside of the rocket itself. And there, attached to the bottom and the top were the wires leading to that car battery.

"What is this?" I asked him, and I wanted to gesture to the medal in my chest so bad but I settled for being happy about the fact I didn't have to pause to get the sentence out.

"It is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery." I looked to the presence of the car battery that I had questioned before. Now that I wasn't as disoriented, I could see the wires that connected to the bottom of the electromagnet in my chest. I vaguely understood the electromagnet, but that would be too unstable. I could last for a few months, if it already hadn't been to long.

"How long have I been here?" I whispered, looking up into the eyes of my savior. I didn't even know this doctors name and already I felt grateful to him.

"You have been here two weeks." He told me, fumbling to put his things back in his bag. Suddenly, on the large iron door that kept me in, with large bolts and no doubt a thick metal core, was knocked on, and a bunch of foreign words that I did not understand came through the door. The man hastily bent down to speak with me.

"They will keep you here until Stark awakens. I cannot promise if you will be alive by the time he is awake." He whispered to me. "They want the missile, the one you demonstrated. You must not, for the sake of America and Stark, agree to make it." He whispered to me.

"What's your name?" I asked him, rasping.

"Yinsen, my name is Yinsen." He stood up, as the door opened, angry looking tanned, and heavily bearded men were holding…Stark USM 789911 gun semi-automatics? I shuddered. How many of our weapons do they have? I didn't want to think about that now. I was just so tired, worn out. My head felt kind of painful, like it should when I've been under this kind of surgery, in this environment, and with such injuries. I was lucky to be alive and I knew it.

"Take care of Tony!" I called out, as the angry looking men took Yinsen away. I didn't know if he could, or if I would see him, or Tony again but it was all that I could think to tell him. What else could I possibly do? I watched, helplessly as Yinsen was pushed out of the iron door and I was left lying on the floor, thankfully with the cup of water close to my face.

It didn't take long, or much thought to it before I was gone back into the black, painful oblivion of before.

When I awaken again, I realize quicker this time where I am. I also realized that a few days have passed. That must have meant that I passed out, instead of falling asleep. I sighed and looked around me. Yinsen was back, that's the first thing I noticed, but the second was that he was looking at my chest, where the electromagnet was steadily keeping the shrapnel out of my heart. The battery it was hooked to was tucked close to me, so that if I were to move, the wires wouldn't disconnect. I looked at him. He had not realized that I was awake again. Maybe I'd been out for a long time again I don't know. My God, my chest still hurts.

"How long has it been?" I asked, softly, careful not to startle him, with his hands on my electromagnet. He jumped a little before smiling sarcastically at me.

"You have been unconscious for three days. I made a small miscalculation with your body weight and the electromagnet. Since you are smaller then Mr. Stark, you require a different amount of…" He paused and looked at me. I can tell my eyes were glassed over with the pain. I couldn't help it. Usually, I would be capable of understand what he is saying, and I would be able to not just follow him but help his explanation. Now though, it was pointless to try it. My brain must have lost a great deal of oxygen, but it was getting clearer.

"Sorry." I told him softly as my eyes dropped again. He hastily held up something to drink, and a piece of bread. How cliché of my captors to feed me bread and water. I took a sip and chewed on the hard piece of bread. There wasn't any more food, but there was also nothing I could do about it besides fall asleep.

"When will I meet these…Ten…Rings?" I wheezed. I've been here; let's see…the two weeks I was out, and then three days that I was out again. Then there are the two weeks that I've been slowly adjusting to the pain and the pressure on my chest. I've yet to see my captors but I've seen Yinsen three more times. They have left me water, not the good sort, and kind of gritty but it kept me alive. I had to keep it rationed because they only allowed me a cup a day. That accursed battery was sitting beside me, one of my hands laying on it.

Today though I was able to sit up, not on my own but I was slowly adjusting to the pressure of the electromagnet, and as well the pain was slowly, and I _mean _slowly, dissipating. I had been propped up against the wall, my chains hanging with my arms at my side. I breathed out and then back in. It had hurt so much to move out of my position but my limbs had begun to hurt from no movement. I blearily remember from my few years in medical school that if you don't move you'll get bed sores that can quickly evolve enough to kill you. Like I'm not already at risk enough.

"They will most likely wait you out until you can not resist them. Then they will ask you to build the Jericho, or something worse." Yinsen informed me, as he looked over my legs. He had told me that with the major injuries he had not checked on my not so serious injuries. For the three days I'd seen him in the last two weeks he'd been checking me over. I had two ribs that he had to set, but luckily he'd fixed enough of the internal bleeding and that it was naturally healing now. My leg had a bullet in it, and the shoulder wound with a bullet in it is stitched up now.

For right now I'm being worked on, my leg. Yinsen is working to stitch together the wound after the painful process of taking the bullet out. Surprisingly, it had only been a pain of 4, since the pain of the electromagnet working is on a nine, and the process of putting it in is a definite 10. I stared at Yinsen's bent head as he stitched me up.

"How many of these are going to leave scars?" I asked him slowly. "Not that I'm overly enthusiastic about my looks, but you know…" I rambled on. I'd yet to look at myself, and taking stock of me via feeling was out of the question. Yinsen glanced up from my leg for a second.

"Most likely all of them." Yinsen casually commented. I smiled. It was all I could do. After the second day I'd gone over all of my problems, and my plans. Now I'm focusing on not going insane. In my psychology class I can remember the class that was about victims of kidnappings that sometimes went insane because they had nothing to think about but their memories, problems, and captors. I'm trying to think of things to keep me sane, and asking questions about my future may be better. At least until the captors come in to beg for me to work for them. I know, probably not the way its going to happen, but I'm trying to be optimistic here.

"And the healing process?" I asked him quietly, barely paying attention to that. I was more absorbed in my thoughts.

"Oh, you should be able to move, and eat whole foods if they supply you with food at all, soon." Yinsen commented. Bread and water, the only thing they were giving me. Right about now I was missing the high life that I was living before this. I'd been more in tune with how much I should be grateful for, at least more then Tony, but I can't even count the amount of things I miss about my life. It's especially difficult when they bring that crap they think is food in to me.

"How is Tony doing?" I asked Yinsen, tradition, and also distracting. In the short time that we have seen each other I always manage to ask how Tony is. I like to think that he's just chilling like a villain somewhere, perfectly safe. Some of you may ask yourselves, but Anna you're in the middle of a kidnapping where you are practically on your death bed, why are you thinking about the man who never loved you. Well, that's easy. I don't have anyone else to think about really.

Rhodes isn't my best friend. Pepper has a family and we really aren't as close as we could be if we didn't work with each other. Obadiah isn't my father figure. I've got no one but Tony. He was there through everything and I've become accustomed to looking after him, and him me. He could cause nothing short of an apocalypse and I think I'd still follow him. Who knows, this entire scenario might just be me following someone who doesn't love me back, to my death.

I suppose there could be worse ways to go. Like….drowning, a fire, shrapnel to the heart, plasma gun…spider bite…I shutter at the pain of that one. To have poison inside just working its way through your blood stream until it just kills you. Or, ew, what about dying like that fungi that's been getting inside people from water…or was it bacteria? Who cares? Another subject please?

"He is much the same as the days before. His cuts are healing, and they aren't nearly as damaging as yours. We put him under quicker than you. All together he is looking very promising today." Yinsen told me, effectively distracting me from previous thought processes.

"When should he be waking up?" I asked quietly. I hoped that I could be there when he wakes up, but I doubt that I'll get that wish. I don't know what these people wanted to accomplish by splitting a comatose Tony and me up but it couldn't be anything that even resembled good.

"He should wake in maybe two months, at the worst. He did take on a severe amount of damage, more in his abdomen then you did." Yinsen informed me, placing down his stitching tools, and picking up a cotton ball to try and put alcohol on the wound to keep it from getting infected. I didn't even flinch at something that would have seemed drastic not a month ago. Now though, I was in so much pain that it would be blasphemy for me to scream at something so small.

"How much?" I asked him, furrowing my eyes. We hadn't had this much time together, more often then not I would pass out, but now that we did I wanted to worry about something and I had plenty to worry about.

"Well besides the obvious heart malfunctions," He paused to gesture at my electromagnet. I held the car battery close, but not to close. "His had swelling, along with his liver, from the shrapnel blasting into it. I really just had to take the shrapnel from everywhere in his abdomen. Yours was all focused in the chest area, or your arms." Yinsen said, cleaning up his hands and glancing at me. I looked down. I was bandaged on my arms, but I'd seen earlier the little cuts where Yinsen had retrieved the shrapnel, they were mostly healed now. My abdomen was completely bandaged, as my skin was raw, red, and painful around the electromagnet. Other then the shrapnel the worst wound I seemed to receive was the bullet wounds to my shoulder and leg.

"I was lucky." I said, and a small ironic smile twitched into formation on my mouth when Yinsen only looked at me. Then he tentatively smiled as well.

"I suppose, given the circumstances you were." He told me, snapping his bag closed. No earlier than that the banging started on the doors. My eyes opened wide and I looked at Yinsen who had scrambled up to put his hands up behind his head. I'd realized that this was the expected reaction to their presence, 'their' being the angry men. But this time it was different. A man was standing there in the center of the two men who were holding my guns. I looked closely at him.

He wore the custom clothing for Afghanistan, which I'd realized on the fourth day is where I still am. He had a long scarf around his neck, which I have to admit I was jealous of. I was almost bare and it was cold in here, the cause of the extra sting in my wounds I'm sure. My shirt, which hadn't been good for heat in the first place had been torn apart during my surgery but I still had Tony's leather jacket, the one he'd had when we were in college.

The man had dark tan, Middle Eastern skin, a full on beard, and dark salt and pepper hair. He was in his mid-30s or possibly forties. None of that mattered, that or the skirt. What mattered was Yinsen's terrified face as the man walked into the room. "Yinsen?" I muttered, nervous. I got the drift that this guy was bad, but not the worse. "What's going on? Who is he?" I rushed out, trying to move my legs back up to me as the man walked closer. He opened his mouth and out rushed words in a rough language that I could not for the life of me (Oh, the Irony) figure out what was. Even at a latter date.

"He says…Welcome, Annabella Vinci. The most well known murderess in all of the world." Yinsen translated. I gulped as the two men walked forward. They grabbed both of my arms and yanked me up, to the protests of Yinsen. I was quick to wrap my fingers around the battery, so as not to jerk the electromagnet out. "She is not ready!" I groaned pitifully as my legs gave out beneath me. I got no sympathy because they only hauled me back up.

The cuts on my chest burned with the passion of a fiery sun, and the bullet wound that had just recently been worked on started bleeding again, but I forced my legs to lock together. Leaning against the wall, I was barely able to stand, and sweat poured down my face and body. If they thought to keep me standing for long I'd soon find the world of unconsciousness again.

The cruel man spoke in the weird language again, gesturing to Yinsen to translate, and he did so, nervously watching me. He must not have been tortured much before, well neither had I but…

"He is honored." Yinsen licked his lips nervously, just waiting for me to fall. The angry men had returned to flanking the cruel man, and I was left to brace myself on the dirty, cracked, rock wall. The man unrolled some papers from a pocket in his skirt. I licked my own lips, desperate to sit back down. "He wants you to build the missile." If there was any blood in my face, it left me then. "The Jericho missile that you demonstrated." The man handed the paper to Yinsen, who cautiously supported my weight a little while I looked at the picture of me next to the Jericho, from the day I was captured. I felt my stomach constrict, and my heart not far behind. I thought they said that it was a secure location? Why did I trust them?

"And if I don't?" I asked, trying to hold firm, and gain some of my rich girl attitude back I raised my eyebrow at him. The result was not very good. The two angry men grabbed me at the arms, and took me out of my room, unlocking my chains first. I screamed and thrashed, causing some of my wounds to open. I was drug to another dull room, but this one had dried patches of what I knew was blood. "Please! I can't!" I shouted but they didn't listen. I was thrown down on the floor, and then to my horror, the two angry men started kicking me in the back.

I screamed as their, steel tipped boots beat into my back. I tried to crawl away, but in return one of them stepped onto my hand, keeping me in place. I groaned pathetically as each foot made contact with my back. They were careful about it, and didn't hit anywhere but my back, keeping away from my already wounded areas. An attempt to break me without killing me is what it was. I tucked myself into a ball and took as deep breaths as I could without screaming. I didn't want to give the satisfaction of seeing Annabella Vinci scream out for them.

Eventually it stopped, I don't know when, or how long they were doing it before it mercifully stopped. In hindsight, it probably wasn't for that long but it felt like ages. I took in a sharp breath and peeked out from my arms, but flinched when I saw I was back in my old room. Had I blacked out without knowing? It's possible. I flinched harder when I felt hands on my bruised back. I turned, cautiously, to see Yinsen with his hands up looking me in the eye with sorrow. Yeah, I'd be sorrowful to if I didn't have an aching back, a bleeding foot and shoulder, or a sickeningly pouring chest. And it was defiantly pouring, blood. I was almost soaked in the red, warm liquid.

But nothing had been damaged, all the aching and pain was on the outside. It really could have been an exaggeration. My chest wasn't pouring, but it wasn't forgettable either. A layer of blood had covered the bandages that kept both my breast, and the electromagnet in my abdomen, and connected by wires to my heart.

"It's all right." Yinsen shushed me. I wasn't shedding a tear though. Not for those sick bastards. That's probably what they want from me. To see me break. Well, I've been following Tony for years, and I've yet to break away from him, so good luck.

"I'm fine." I muttered, unfurling and then whimpering when my back made contact with the ground. God it hurt. I leaned over on my side, so that Yinsen could look at it. The movement hurt my chest, and squished the electromagnet uncomfortably in my chest. There should be some kind of barrier there, so that the electromagnet doesn't hit the wall of innards there. But I didn't have the tools to figure that out, and right about now I didn't have the brain power either. "I'm going to go to sleep now, m'kay."


	5. Abandon Their Defenses

Today was two more weeks. Like clockwork the people came into my room every day to beat me into submission, until three days ago. Yinsen had been let in every time, afterwards. It didn't matter. They chose a new body part to beat every day, but stayed away from my chest, or my face. One time, they stuck me in a vat of water and boiled the water, with me sitting in it. I knew they wouldn't boil me though; they'd need me if Tony didn't wake up.

Speaking of, Tony could awaken any moment. Yinsen hasn't been back in two days, and I haven't been beaten for three days. I'm sitting up by myself. Despite the harsh beatings, I've gotten much better in the chest area. Most of my chest injuries are healed immensely. I'd go ahead and say they were healed. They still hurt some, and the gruesome scars are a bright red, but I like to think that they are fine now, as long as I don't try to stretch too far. If I do they ache something awful. Yinsen said Tony's wounds are all healed, it was going to ache, but he should be better off then I was when I awakened.

I can't thank God enough for little miracles. Sure, I was suffering but that meant someone else wasn't. It meant Tony wasn't. Ah, well. I'd prefer not to be in pain, but there is no going back now.

I've had my slice of bread for the day, and my water was half gone, so I would need to slow down. Right about now, scratching at my scab sounded like a good idea, but I knew it would only get infected if I did. So mostly I was staring at the scab, okay. I have to have something to do before they decide to beat me again. My bruises were yellow and brown now, but in the center of my back it's still a light purple. Or so Yinsen tells me. This is the first day I've been able to walk a full circle around my room without getting winded.

The door slammed open, ruining my peaceful spin into insanity.

I glanced to the door, silently waiting for the next beating. But what I saw was an anxious Yinsen standing between the angry men, always a different set, and the man from before. I didn't know his name, but I hated him all the same. I stumbled to my feet, with the help of a cautious Yinsen.

"Are you hurt?" He whispered to me. I shook my head, right before one of them threw a bag over it. This wasn't new; I could count the steps, and the left and right turns, to and from the room of horrors, as I like to 'fondly' call it. But they didn't take me to the room of horrors. Instead we took two lefts, a right, and another left before we walked forward fifty paces. I gulped. I didn't want to be tortured somewhere else. But what if they were taking me to Tony? My mind was always clearer with Tony around. Maybe we could find a way out.

I was surprised that I was right….both times.

I was shoved into a room that I couldn't see, in a room of light, holding tight to the car battery in my arms. I flinched, even under the cover of the bag. I had limited light at all times since I'd been here. They'd only ever given me enough that I could see shadows and shapes. I swiveled around, and jerked when I was shoved to my knees. What was going on? What could be happening? I heard multiple voices speaking one of the many languages that they spoke here. I jerked back when someone grabbed the college jacket I wore. Yinsen, I could hear him speaking furtively, begging for something.

Then suddenly the bag was ripped from my head. I shouted in surprise as the lights blinded me. I recoiled away, anything. "ANNA!" I jerked up, trying to see through the light, and after a few seconds I saw a heavenly, and horror filling sight. There Tony was, sitting in a chair, chained there, and he was looking straight at me.

"Tony!" I called back, trying to resist the restraints. Tony looked rough, probably just like I did. He had the bloodied electromagnet in his chest, with bandages covering it. I could see the battery beside him on the floor. I could see no other wounds, but he was horrendously dirty, distraught and covered in water. I stared at his ever perfect brown eyes. They were frantic, and his face was showing horror like I'd never seen on it and it was growing. I hadn't even seen horror on it since we found out about his parents. His facial hair, always so perfectly groomed was longer, with shorter hair growing where there was no hair before. A rough jacket covered his shoulders and back.

I was pushed forward, and that brought everything back into focus. I began noticing other things about the room. There were at least six men behind me; two of them gripping my back, another two were standing behind a camera in a corner. A bald guy was standing in another corner, but the cruel man was standing beside him, looking at me with real anger. Like I'd just told him that all of my weapons had been fake. What I really noticed, however, is the vat of water in front of me. It wasn't like the one they'd used before, the pitiful excuse for torture. Now it was filled with dirty, horrible smelling water.

And they were pushing me towards it.

"Build the weapons!" Yinsen was shouting, or translating. I screamed right before they thrust my head into that disgusting water, that I was sure blood was all in. Now, as I held my breath, I understood why Tony was wet. They had tried this on him, but it had not worked.

And now they were using me.

I couldn't breathe, everything was horribly pressuring. I couldn't think, as all oxygen left my brain and the world spun. Then the disgusting bastards pulled me up again, only to let me get two breaths in before they pushed me back under. I screamed into the water, being able to make no sense of anything. Where was the floor? The top of the vat? Where was all of this water coming from? Again they pulled me up. I gasped for breathes; only getting one in before I was in again. Then the electromagnet short circuited, all of that shrapnel took a tentative move towards my heart. I screamed again into the water.

**Tony looked wonderful in his graduation uniform. I sat in my seat, waiting for the moment the families were allowed to go to the graduates. Tony's parents had been incapable of making it. I knew they were just making excuses not to go. Howard only ever saw Tony as an heir, never as a son. Maria just saw Tony as her way to money. Tony had just been another step for them. He wasn't for me, he was my best friend, and I was going to make sure he had **_**someone **_**here for him. Although, I was supposed to be in China right now proposing a new deal to the U2 Corp. **

"**And now we welcome these students into the world!" I stood up and whistled with the rest of the parents in the room. I didn't care that I was the only one making any real noise, Tony needed it. He had realized, when he was getting his diploma that his parents weren't coming. His crushed expression had been enough to make my eyes water and my anger at his parents to surge. He'd looked gorgeous in his blue MIT robes, and his button up white shirt under it, with dressy shoes. The parents rushed the stage but I waited where I was. I was too small to make it past all of these people without getting hurt. **

**I looked around for Tony, going as far as to get up on my chair to look for him. "Anna!" I heard right before someone swept me up in their arms from behind. I squealed as they pulled me from the chair and set me down. I turned around to see Tony smiling down at me. It was so bright and loving and I grinned at him goofily. "**_**You **_**are supposed to be halfway around the world right now." He teased me.**

"**Yeah well," I straightened his college robes and then stepped back to look him over. "I just had a new idea for the company, and I need my soon to be partner to look at them, over a celebratory dinner." I told him, holding up a camera. "Smile, sugar dumpling." I teased and he grinned at me. I snapped a picture, from a camera that was a new product of Stark & Vinci Industries. **

"**Awe, you missed me." Tony teased. I laughed and squealed when he moved closer and to my shock he kissed me on the cheek. I blushed as he genuinely smiled at me. "Thanks for coming." Tony whispered to me, squeezing my waist in appreciation.**

"**Well, don't get cocky." I told him, putting the camera in the air, and pulling myself close. "Let's take a picture together." I smiled, and Tony moved in close. Right when I clicked the picture Tony turned and kissed me on the cheek again. **

I was pulled back out of the water, and I screamed as the electromagnet continued to short circuit, but there was no mercy. I was shoved right back into the vat of dirty, blood filled, electric charge water. I thrashed around painfully. My lungs burned for air and my heart was beating so fast that had I been able to think I would have worried about a heart attack.

"**It's the only self sustaining energy source. This will power our factory here so that we can preserve the earth for generations to come." I told everyone. I stood in front of the podium of Stark and Vinci Industries, right in front of the new arc reactor building. The huge, monstrosity was Tony, Howard, and I's massive brain pilled together. It had so many uses, but the best thing about it had to be the ability to power an entire S & V factory, which produced thousands of different products a day. **

**I stepped back from the podium and walked to where Tony waited, 22 and gorgeous as ever. His brown hair was ruffled from pulling an all-nighter, but his clothes were perfect. His brown eyes sparkled as he balanced clichéd golden scissors on one of his shoulders. I smiled as our eyes met and we both took part of the scissors. "You ready?" Tony teased and I grinned at him.**

"**I was born ready." I mocked back. We clipped the red ribbon, and as we did the arc reactor turned on, glowing blue and beautiful. I looked at Tony, who was in awe over the sight of his first real opening. He was radiant. I wonder when it was that I first fell for those brown eyes, or beautiful features. When I first realized that I was in love with the boy in the corner of the library, who would read about physics, math, and engineering until there were no books left in his grasp. When I fell in love with the same little boy that loved my drawings. I wonder when I fell in love with the boy who saved me from myself.**

I was pulled out of the water but this time I was completely pulled away from the tank. I grabbed onto the battery. Water was in my ears, and I couldn't hear a word they said. It wasn't as if it mattered, because I couldn't understand them. They let me go and I curled around the battery, trying to understand what was going on. I needed oxygen to work my brain, so I kept breathing. I screamed when I was kicked in the back, and then hauled to my feet. I stumbled around as they pushed the bag back over my head. I was so disoriented, and my brain hurt, my chest hurt, and my eyes stung, everything was hurting again.

I was lead, by both arms through the halls. I remembered the way as I began to function in overdrive, my brain kicking into survival mode because of the fear and adrenaline that was working its way through my system. Two lefts, a right, seven steps, one left, and then a bright light. I cringed, trying to scramble away, but at the same time my mind was racing over other things.

The arc reactor. That's what my brain had showed me. It could work. If the large, expansive cables in the original were exchanged for odium soaked wires, and a rim of base, casing of palladium was used then it could keep Tony's and my heart beating by locking the shrapnel in place. We could get all the material we needed from a few of our missiles, and judging by before they were avid customers. We'd need a lot, for Tony and I but we could pass that off as the Jericho needing a lot of palladium.

We could use the medal, melt it down, but if I remember correctly, and ninety-five percent of the time I do, the Curiosity Line all had large amounts of palladium strips in the ejection chambers. The ejection chambers would have enough metals to sustain the palladium, and if we use wires to connect to a medal plate against our heart it could spread the arc reactors power through our entire chest. Of course, we'd have to miniaturize the arc reactor, which would call for a few more changes in measurements, and I'd have to take into account our body masses.

The bag was lifted from my head. I jerked back, storing the information I had thought of in to a place in the back of my mind. What I found around me when I opened my eyes was a horrifying sight that I'll never forget.

There were cases and cases of weapons, all my weapons. They had everything we'd made, at least one of everything out here. They had things such as our grenades, machine guns, missiles, heat-seeking missiles, and even the limited edition 2006 U.S. 87899 Thunderbird missile which we only sold to the army, and for a limited time in 2006. Where did they get these? What was the purpose of having all of these weapons? How did they get them all? I shuddered, holding tight to the battery in my arms.

There was only one answer to that, someone had betrayed us. How else would our weapons get here in such large quantities? I could see the weapons stretching out, covered by the fabric of desert shaded camouflage. I stumbled as one of the soldiers, in dark clothing pushed me forward roughly into Tony, who was in front of me. I held onto the battery and shuffled forward; gazing out on what was most of my life's work.

As they led me from the cave, with Yinsen behind me and Tony in front of me, I looked out everywhere. There were men gathered everywhere. Some of them turned and looked to us, but most seemed to be on a watch of some sort. All three of us, the captive trio, were pulled to a halt, and the cruel man turned around. I got one more glance, of people standing on a hill, with the bald man who came to watch me beaten, in front.

The cruel man started speaking, in one of the many foreign languages they spoke in this camp. Did they just keep Yinsen for his translation skills? How else did they understand each other? Were there more people captive? I doubt it.

"He wants to know what you think." Yinsen translated. I kept silent, letting Tony answer as I looked around, in the cases of missiles for the specific one I needed….There, over on the edge and tucked between ammunition for a large German inspired rocket launcher were large cases of missiles with Curiosity written on the side. I stared at them but it was impossible to tell how many they were. I bet if we said we needed them though, we'd get it.

"I think you have a lot of our weapons." Tony remarked, still looking around him, much like I had. I glanced at him. He had blood on his head, which I had not realized before and his skin was an unnatural pale. I flinched when someone pushed on my back. I looked to the cruel man and he was looking for my answer.

"These are a lot of weapons." I muttered in accordance with Tony. He looked at me, and our eyes met. Now wasn't the time for us to reunite but I hoped that this wouldn't be the last we saw of each other. I highly doubted that it would be, seeing as how they had only been keeping me alive to help build the Jericho. The cruel man started speaking again, and I broke from Tony's gaze so that I could look at Yinsen to translate.

"He says, they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile." Yinsen translated and then paused to listen some more to the man. "He wants you both to make a list of materials. He says for you to start work immediately." Yinsen paused to listen. I watched the gestures the cruel man used when he spoke. "And when you are done, he will set you free." There was a loaded silence. I wanted to sneer at my captor. Letting the greatest known weapons designers go, was something that they'd never do. Then they'd have to worry about us telling someone, or even us making weapons to counter act the Jericho.

"No he won't." Tony said, taking the hand the cruel man had thrust out. I grimaced when Yinsen repeated what he said, meaning no translation was needed. That didn't deter the man from turning to me, with a sinister look in his eyes. I know what he was thinking of, all those time I lay there, being beaten. I remembered to, and that's why my very sassy mouth was kept firmly shut. The cruel man nearly crushed my bones together, one of my fingers still carried the 'Lady of Vinci' ring that I had inherited, along with the title, and it dug stiffly into my other fingers. I wrenched my hand free from his grasp and rubbed my hand.

It didn't take them any longer than that before the cruel man nodded to the soldiers and again I was painfully herded back to the cave. I tried to get as much of the sun's rays on my face as possible before they shoved, viciously, the bag over my head. Two steps later I was consumed by the darkness of the cave. It didn't matter; I paid attention to the steps, the turns, the quirks, and everything I could. I didn't know if we would be capable of getting out, but if we did then we would need to know the way out. I realized, on the second left turn that we were going somewhere I hadn't been before. My room was nowhere near this section of cave, and the interrogation room was back three rights.

I swallowed and tried, again to pay attention to my steps. On the second right, I saw a flash of light as we moved, like there was another opening there. I turned my head but I was forced to keep walking by a gun pressed into the center of my bruised and beaten back. I choked as someone knocked me to the right, away from the light. I logged it for later though, just in case. The only downside is I don't know where that gap of light led me. In fact I don't know where they led me now.

Suddenly, I was grabbed and halted. I clutched the car battery close to me in apprehension. Where was I? And why are they stopping me? I heard a large door, probably made of a heavy metal, steel most likely. Breathing in deeply didn't help the anxiety as I heard people start moving, and as the gun in my back demonstrated, I was to move forward as well. It was only after a few steps, five maybe that they halted me, and then the gun at my back disappeared, along with the bag.

Blinking a few times I took in my surroundings. I was in a large room now, with multiple tables in it, two beds, and posts to keep the ceiling from caving inward. I could hear the rush of water, but as well I could see the paper and pencils strewn out on the desk, and the metals placed out. On one table was a large red stain, so I could only discern that I had once laid on that hard surface. There was no one here now, besides Yinsen, Tony and I. Carefully I took a step forward, glancing back to see that I had been right. A large steel door was in the way of our escape, but that could be taken out with a few explosions, and Tony's always been good at that.

Speaking of Tony, he was standing there, watching me. I looked at him. He looked pitiful, but I'm guessing he was only now taking in how bad I looked. With only bread and water to eat, my once muscular frame had turned into skin and bones. My hair was tangled and unwashed. My face and body was covered in water, blood, and dirt. I barely looked anything like myself. All that could identify me was probably my height. Tentatively, I smiled at Tony.

It was like a floodgate, because Tony moved forward towards me, to hug me. Because of the car batteries though, it could only be a one armed hug. It didn't matter to me. I was finally with Tony in this place. I could hold him; make sure he was a live and breathing, not dead. For all I knew, Yinsen could have been only telling me that because he was ordered to. Who knew? When in a hostage situation I assure you that your first instinct is not to trust everyone who comes your way.

I clutched onto Tony with my one arm. His warmth enveloped my right side, and I breathed in the dirt, blood, and natural scent of Tony. "Tony." I stated in greeting, smiling when his head rested on mine. "You've grown out your beard." I muttered. He let out a burst of hollow laughter, moving back to look me in the face.

"And you've lost a few pounds." Tony told me, poking my stomach. Glancing down and then back up at his brown eyes, I answered.

"Well, you know, I was always told I should model." I teased, before rubbing a hand over his beard. It really was prickly, but I've always had a thing for facial hair, granted not this much. The playful air soon disappeared as quickly as it came.

"What are we going to do?" Tony sighed, glancing at where I could now see a camera watching our every move. That just meant that we'd have to be sneaky about it.

"I was thinking," I muttered, moving close so as not to draw attention from the ones watching us through the cameras. "You know we can't do anything if we don't fix the electromagnets and I think I have a plan to fix them." I told him, taping my own. Tony's, which was centered smack dab in his chest, was shown from his jacket. It didn't have the gruesome scars that mine did, but it was raw around the electromagnet, and he had multiple small cuts from where the shrapnel had entered, and been retrieved.

"You look really bad." Tony confessed, and I glanced up at him. I paused for a few seconds then grinned at him.

"It's all part of my plan, Mr. Stark." I teased again, pinching his cheek. He made an annoyed sound until I let go. When I did, I moved away from Tony, and instead moved towards the fire that Yinsen had just started, giving us our time alone. Tony didn't waste time; he followed me straight away, towards the fire. It was slowly getting colder in here, as it did in caves, especially at night and if you don't have a fire. Luckily, it wasn't night yet, and we did have a fire.

Tony himself pulled on a beanie that had been on a table near the roaring fire and he graciously threw me the gloves that came with it. I pulled on the itchy wool gloves. I can't remember having ever worn gloves like this. After all, Tony and I come from the side of town where everything was in our reach since the moment we were born. Together we huddled around the fire, like some homeless people did in New York. We weren't miracle workers, and we had donated money to the homeless people, quite a lot to, but no matter how much we donated, we could never donate enough. The Maria Stark Foundation was our own relief foundation in itself, just to help people who needed it.

For a few moments we were silent, taking in each other's presence. I could hardly believe that after so much time I was finally able to sit and talk to Tony. Maybe not safely, and not comfortably but for now it was enough that Tony and I had some time together, before we had to do anything. Just a few seconds though because there were many things that needed to be addressed, such as the fact we were currently being held hostage, and dying as we speak.

Tony had zoned out, and I watched him, even as his hand subconsciously moved to the electromagnet in his chest. I had placed my car battery on the floor, next to the work bench that had been situated beside the table. I noticed the paper there, and I sighed. Maybe now would be the best time to write down my ideas. I turned from the fire, and grabbed some of the paper that had yet to be written on, and a pencil. It had been two months, and three days since we'd been captured, if I could remember correctly. I imagine the captors aren't feeling too good about us right now. But, if Tony was up, maybe they'd be placated enough to not notice us when we do escape.

First, to deal with electromagnet, then with getting out of here.

For the next few minutes, while Tony stared at the fire, I sketched, and wrote formulas and pictures for what we would need, the arc reactor, miniaturized. Then I hit a hick up. How was I going to connect the palladium to the base plate of the arc reactor?

"We can use the copper and iron wiring from the Pell line." Tony told me. I jumped and looked, to see he had stopped staring at the fire at some point, to look over my shoulder. He took the pencil from me and sketched down a few more formulas, fixed some of my mistakes, and just like that, finished the arc reactor design. I stared at him, and he looked at me.

"What?" Tony asked. I vaguely remember this from somewhere. Had I heard this before? It did seem awfully familiar. I smiled at him. It was nice to have Tony back. Really, it was just nice to have someone familiar here with me. Instead of being trapped in that room with nothing but the wet cave walls, the smell of rusty blood, and electricity that I can never get away from. I shuttered. Yes, it was definitely better here and if – no, when – I get out of here I was going to find a large bed and a glass of the finest vanilla rum possible. Of course, if I hadn't been on that stupid plane in the first place I would have never been here. Then again, if I didn't get on the plane, Tony'd be here alone.

"Nothing, just wondering how I ended up here." I muttered, rubbing my face with my gloved hands. It wasn't this cold back in my other room, where I'm guessing it was closer to the surface of this cave of tunnels.

"I'm sorry." Tony sighed, and I glanced at him in surprise. He was looking at me, propping himself on the table, and the upper part of him was turned towards me, while his other half was still sitting in front of the fire. "If I hadn't been so stupid, maybe we could have avoided the situation or something." Tony told me and I held up my hand, stopping him from speaking.

"I can't even see where you jumped to that conclusion, but I don't blame you for this at _all_." I strongly told him, turning on the bench, propping my leg up, so that I was facing the man of my dreams. Even now, with the dirt and the blood on him, I found him attractive. Anyone else would be shocked that the great Tony Stark was human, but I've seen Tony at his worse, and at his best. "As weird as this sounds, I'm kind of glad I'm here. If I wasn't, then you'd be here by yourself." I paused for a second and grinned playfully at him. "And Lord knows that Tony Stark left to himself is never a good thing."

"Hey!" Tony yelped, making me laugh and after a brief second of snotty, uptight Tony, he started laughing to. When the laughter died down, which was soon, I saw Tony's eyes shining, and his white teeth peeked out in a hint of a smile. "You know, I'm kind of glad you're here to." Tony whispered to me. I smiled at him.

"Good, because you need me." I told him, patting his arm before raising from my seat, eyeing the rest of the room, for that source of water I'd heard earlier. Ah, there, behind the rest of the stuff a small stream, which started at the base of one wall, and ran through to the other end. A curtain hung at the end, where it disappeared under one of the walls, told me where the bathroom and the shower were. Good, because I needed a wash down, even if it was only with a rag. I didn't speak a word to Tony in my closed minded pursuit of that shower, instead picking up my car battery and heading towards it. But I looked to Yinsen when he stepped up to me, nearly glowering. Uh-oh, I've seen that look on many a nurse and doctor's face.

"Before you use the water," Yinsen's heavily accented voice was sharp, with a firm tint to it. "I must look at your injuries." He told me. I sized him up, because I didn't want Tony to see them. There was no way that he wouldn't get angry, upset or whatever the unpredictable man would do. I just didn't want Tony to see me in that state. I was always strong around Tony and I didn't want this to change it. I don't know why, I just think sometimes that it's the only reason Tony keeps me around.

"They're fine. They didn't," I glanced to see Tony sketching on some more paper, doing God knows what, but he was still in hearing distance, with his ear towards us. "Visit me, since you last saw me." I told Yinsen. He didn't let up, only taking a step closer.

"And the last time I saw you, your back was purple, and your legs, golden brown with bruises. I simply wish to see the progress." Yinsen told me, glancing critically at my arms, which were a golden brown as well, where my skin was pale from lack of sunlight. I sighed and tried to compromise.

"How about, when Tony is asleep?" I asked Yinsen, hoping he would understand. He moved back and looked into my eyes, searching for something that I could not understand.

"You are in love with Stark. Are you not?" Yinsen asked me. My eyes widened in shock, and then flicked to Tony who had not seemed to hear, but looks could be deceiving. I didn't want to lie to Yinsen though, looking now at the man who had saved my life, it only seemed fair to tell him the truth.

"I love him…" I whispered, nodding and shifting my weight. I'd never really told anyone before, at all. I had a feeling Rhodes knew, but no one else did. "Is it that noticeable?" I asked, uncomfortably.

"Yes," Yinsen said, then tried to explain. "You are happy now, that you are with Tony. It doesn't seem to matter that we are in a cave, in Afghanistan, and that you will die in less than a week, at most." I shuttered and gulped.

"It does bother me, but," I looked to Tony, who was now sketching furiously. "I love Tony, and I'm just happy that he's alive. I guess it makes me selfish, to want to keep him alive so that I can love him." I wondered, still looking at Tony, but I looked to Yinsen when he rested his hand on my shoulder. I looked into his eyes. This man seemed so wise and all-knowing but he's older than me and I can only imagine that he knew more then I myself did.

"No, you are just in love. I do not believe you to have a selfish bone in your body, as you Americans say." Yinsen smiled a small bit at me. Smiling sadly at him, I answered him.

"You misunderstand me then, Yinsen. I have plenty of selfish bones in my body; they are just covered with what people believe to be good intentions." I gestured to Tony. "The truth is, I'd give up everything for Tony. I'll always take care of Tony, whether he loves me, or Pepper, or even somebody straight off the streets. All that matters in my life is if the only man who has ever seen me for me, is happy." I told Yinsen, strongly. Then I rolled back my shoulders, cracking them uncomfortably.

Yinsen took a minute, still searching for something in my eyes before nodding. "We will wait until after your bath to look at your bruises. They've been left unattended long enough, Ms. Vinci." Yinsen told me, moving back. I grabbed his arm as he went to go to Tony.

"I think that under the circumstances, you can call me Anna now." I told him. He smiled, awkwardly, as if it had been a long time since he had smiled. I watched him go off to Tony. That right there was a good man, a curious man, but a good one. I had already decided that when he helped me, aching, in pain, and dying in a cave. Now, with Yinsen's interrogation over, I moved to the curtain, preparing to strip off the dirty clothes that I would eventually have to place back on my body. Right now though, I grabbed a mostly clean rag and worked.

A chair had been placed behind the curtain to sit in so you wouldn't have to reach down to the stream I'm sure. I soaked the rag in water, no soap in sight, and began to wash as much of the dirt and blood off of me as possible. I was careful to move the car battery away from the water, and not to get any water on the electromagnet, which had already had enough water near it from the dousing.

Even thinking about that vicious, disease infected water made me anxious, made my lungs freeze in remembered pain. I shook it off. I didn't need to worry about that now. I cleaned as much of me as possible, scrubbing my greasy hair but with no shampoo, or conditioner, there was nothing I could do other than to work as much clumped dirt and tangles as I could out of it.

Half way through scrubbing my feet, they had only been covered by fabric shoes of the Afghanistan women, I heard Yinsen start speaking to Tony. I calmly continued to rub the dirt off of me, listening to Tony being tested by Yinsen. I knew, because I had just gone through my own test. Yinsen though seemed to be trying to get Tony to get us out of here.

"Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark." I winced for Tony. That had to hit home. Tony's father was always clear on one thing when he did pay attention to Tony, and that was legacy. "Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is that how you want Anna to go out?" I glanced at the curtain, but obviously I couldn't see them through it. Instead I wrung the rag out. I had gotten all of the dirt off that would come off. The rest of it was either around my electromagnet, or impossible to get off without soap. I was slow to pull my clothes back on, waiting on Yinsen to get Tony riled up.

"Is this the last act of defiance from the great Tony Stark?" Yinsen asked, trying to play on Tony's since of pride, the side of Tony that the cameras saw. I'm not going to lie. It wasn't just some mask that Tony threw up for others to see. No, that was a part of Tony now. It used to be just a mask for the paparazzi but after a long time it just became another part of my Tony. All six thousand parts of him are an intricate web that I don't even think Tony understands half the time. I know I can't pretend to, but I'm one of the few who can say they love him anyways.

"Or are you going to do something about it-" Yinsen was cut off by Tony.

"Why should I do anything about it? They are going to kill me, you, Anna." Tony fired back. It didn't make any sense. Tony saw that arc reactor designs I had, and he had just been sketching what I thought would be his idea for our escape. It didn't make sense…unless he was also testing Yinsen… I tugged on the leather jacket of Tony's, and out of instinct took a whiff of it. It didn't smell like Tony anymore, but that didn't matter. It's one of the few things I enjoyed owning, and having it now meant a lot more to me than having some blanket with the warmth of the sun would. "And even if they don't, Anna and I will be dead within the week." Tony muttered.

"Well, then, I guess this is a very important week for you two, isn't it?" Yinsen asked. I hesitated, wondering if their spat was over before I came out. Yinsen was on one side of the room, at one of the beds. It was stuck in a grove of the cave, with a mattress that looked to be made of rocks, and a light that ran on oil alone. I quietly walked to Tony, if I could not draw attention to myself, maybe Yinsen would forget to check me over.

Settling down beside my best friend, I tucked myself into his side. I didn't care that I would be blushing furiously, and probably wouldn't have even thought of doing this if we were anywhere else. The fact was, that we were stuck here, and I was cold, and Tony was warm. Tony didn't even blink. He only pulled me closer, weaving his arm around me and placing his head atop of mine. We were silent, just taking another few moments to take each other in. I don't know if Tony really hadn't been awake for long, but I hadn't seen his face, or sat in his presence for two months, and I missed him. You never really understand what it's like to know that you had something there all along, and then it's just withheld from you with no just cause.

"I have an idea." Tony finally said something. I glanced upwards, unable to see him without moving, and I defiantly wasn't moving. I hadn't really been in Tony's arms since his parents died, and it hadn't been a good hug then either.

"Hmmm?" I answered, kind of sleepy. It had been rough, being nearly drowned and then showed just who we'd been selling our weapons to. Note to self: find who was selling our weapons to other countries, destroy them.

"It's a little…different but with my calculations it should work. But we'll need the arc reactor to power it." Tony mused, half to himself and half to me, I'm sure.

"You don't have to explain to me, I'm all for it." I told him, reluctantly moving away, so that I could see Tony, so that I could take in those gorgeous features. "I'm sure that anything you come up with will work." I teased. Tony's mouth twitched but he gathered the paper's he'd been working on while I'd been cleaning myself up. They were a bunch of pieces of tracing paper. I glanced at them, confused, but I took them from him anyways, flipping through them. It hit me. But…how…it could work, with his measurements.

"Tony…this is…" I muttered, holding them all up to the fire, so that the light shone through, putting them all together to show me a suit of metal, centered on where the arc reactor would power it. "…amazing." I muttered.

"Yeah, see, I just need a few tweaks, think you could help me out?" Tony asked me. I turned to him, placing the tracing paper in my lap. I smiled because he was smiling softly at me. How abnormal. I suppose this wasn't just the normal-est situation in the world.

"Of course, Tony." I told him, looking, contemplating the tracing paper. The possibilities with this were endless. I think this is every engineers dream, no every inventors dream, and I do enjoy building things. It's one of my aforementioned passions. "Not that it'll probably need tweaking, and seeing as we don't have the usually unlimited resources, I can't do much." I muttered, half to myself and half to him. I picked up the pencil and fixed a socket placement on the forth page, the arm.

"We'll need to make a list, and make it look convincing. We'll compile the list for this, with the one of the arc reactors." Tony said, scratching his beard and grabbing for some more paper. I turned to the table, prepared to help him, but there Yinsen was waiting on me. I sighed and dropped the pencil I had picked up. Great.

"Now?" I asked and Yinsen lifted an eyebrow. "Jeez, you feel like my father." I complained. Tony looked between me and Yinsen, eyeing the foreigner distrustfully. He knew how much I didn't like my father, but I hadn't meant it that way. I sighed and moved towards the fire, hesitating to undress in front of Tony. Yinsen had seen me nude or at least top wise, so there was no damage there, but Tony was a different story all together.

"It is not that big a deal. I'm sure he has seen you with worse." Yinsen tried to help. I had grabbed the hem of my shirt, but now I paused to look at Yinsen incredulously. Did he think I just got beaten up left and right? Yinsen actually looked sheepish.

"What's going on?" Tony finally asked. I could tell it had worked on his nerves, just like Tony always couldn't stand not knowing something, of course I couldn't stand it either. I guess we are a little alike. I tugged the shirt over my shoulders in answer. When the jacket, and the light shirt I had received from the cruel man before were off I sat in the chair beside the fire, cautious.

I heard the ragged breath Tony breathed in, but I didn't have a chance to explain or look to him, since Yinsen started smearing some kind of ointment on the bruises, and I admit there might have been a few cuts left on my back. I couldn't guess what the ointment was, seeing as it came from a brown jar, probably homemade. I don't mind, because right now I was worried more with the stinging my back was doing. He didn't stop at my back, but as well went to my arms, rubbing a small amount under the thin bra, on my back area, that they had supplied just recently.

"How did you get these?" Tony asked, moving to kneel before me. I looked into his eyes. He seemed so upset, like I had suspected he would be but worse. It broke my heart to see worry there. I never wanted Tony to worry about me, or feel sad. My own heart ached with the knowledge I was causing Tony pain. I tried smiling for him, but then Yinsen scraped a cut onto a piece of my arm.

"Jeez, Yinsen." I complained tugging on my arm which he held to put the ointment on. He didn't say anything, just peacefully kept working. "Did Yinsen tell you I was awake before you?" I asked Tony, ready to explain to him. Tony's eyes turned to slits, and I blinked in surprise, and raised my eyebrows. "Okay, well, they didn't have enough anesthetic to put us both under, so they made Yinsen use it to keep you under. I was only under for…two weeks?" I looked for confirmation from Yinsen and he nodded, putting the lid on the ointment. I glanced at my back. There was a thin covering of the ointment everywhere, but it was thin and drying quickly, even in this wet cave.

"Okay." Tony forced out, sitting on the bench again, right where Yinsen had been. We were as if Yinsen had never come over, but the fire on my back kind of hurt. It was probably heating the ointment. I picked up the pencil again, and began to half-heartedly mark down a list.

"Well, they tried to get me to work, you know build the Jericho. Yinsen was there when I woke up, so I valiantly asked if you were alive. Knowing that you were I came to the conclusion if I even thought to do something like this," I gestured to the arc reactor sketch. Tony was listening, having thrown one leg over each side of the bench so that he could face me. "I knew that if I even tried, they'd see you as unneeded and then well…" I gestured a knife being dragged over my neck before I went back to listing everything. Was that all of it? Let's see, iron and copper wiring…the curiosity missiles….yep that looked like it. I even marked down a welding set.

I passed the list to Tony, so that he could add on the rest from the design he had made. He was always lucky that way, making what he needs out of thin air. Me? I'm lucky if I get it on the second try. Yeah, some genius right?

"I'm sorry." Tony muttered. Raising my eyebrows I looked up at him.

"What are you apologizing for now?" I asked him, curiously. It had been so long since I'd even heard Tony sincerely apologize to anyone that it was somewhat of an anomaly for me.

"Everything." Tony whispered, and I don't know if I was supposed to hear it because he straightened in his seat and pointed to where a mattress set in the middle of the room. "That's where we'll be sleeping." He told me. I paled farther then my skin tone already was. Getting up from the bench, I inspected the mattress.

"You know what I miss the most?" I conversationally asked Tony. There was one blanket, one pillow, one bed, one. I was going to have to share with Tony and as much as I'd fantasized about getting in to Tony's bed, it wasn't like this, or under these circumstances. I scratched my head and then sighed. There wasn't anything I could do, and it wasn't like I could just ask for another bed. What was the likely hood that I wouldn't get beaten, or that they would even give it to me?

"What?" Tony asked, already writing on the list. I looked at him. There he was, just like he would be at home, half listening to me while working. A smile found its way onto my mouth.

"My bed." I told him, before I climbed into this bed, which was really just a mattress with four pieces of metal welded onto it. "Try not to get your AIDs on me when you get in." I teased him again, turning over when he muttered obscenities and objections. I pulled on the blanket, leaving enough for him and I tucked myself into a familiar ball formation. And just like that sleep hit and I was gone.

**Eh. As much as I love this story, I'm a little conflicted about this chapter. I thought that maybe their reunion should have been more extreme but this is the way it wanted to be written. Do you think his reaction to her torture was a little to subdued? Oh well. I enjoyed it.**

**I have a question. Is there anyone out there who is as pumped about Iron man 3 as I am? I can't wait!**

**Also! I'm planning to put out a new poll so that you can help me decide what I'll write after this. The sequel isn't going to be on there because its kind of a given. Maybe... Anyways go vote for me!**


	6. Helpless To Resist

"If this is going to be our work place, I want it well lit." Tony called. Today, early I'm guessing by the feeling in my bones, we were calling out the list. I felt so tired, but really that could be the electromagnet failing. The water treatment had affected the workings of my electromagnet, and if I didn't get the arc reactor soon, I'd be dead. "I want these up."

"I need welding gear, two of propane, and two of acetylene." I told them. Yinsen was hurrying to translate it to the people walking around us, bringing in things as we said it. A man beside us was taking down what we said, but in a different language, just in case they missed everything.

"We need a soldering station, with helmets, and goggles." Tony instructed, not taking a breath. I wondered at him. This morning, or whenever I had awoken I'd found myself wrapped in strong, muscular arms that led to Tony. I'd been so happy, both to be in his arm, and as well, that I'd awoken first. I don't know if he had done it on purpose, but I'm almost positive that my face had been past blood red. I was so comfortable though, and Tony and I were so well fit together. My entire body had fit so well against his with me turned to see him, and him facing me. I felt so warm and…loved.

"I'm going to need a smelting cup and three precision tools."

It took them some time, because the missiles we wanted were quite heavy, but when they were all gone, and I had shed the jacket Tony and I started work on one of the missiles. Yinsen hovered over us, not knowing what was going on. Tony was taking apart the missile at one part, trying to get to the palladium, while I was trying to get to the longer pieces of coiled up wire in there. I yanked on the fins, trying to get to the bolts underneath. I grunted when it came off. Yes. Starting to take the bolts off I listened to the conversation between Yinsen and Tony.

"How many languages do you speak?" Tony asked, conversationally. I glanced up from my work and grinned over the missile at Tony. Awe, he's trying to get along with Yinsen. Not that I cared, because Tony had slicked his hair back. Even with his facial hair more of a full on beard, and him being dirty, and aging constantly, I loved him looking like this. He didn't know this but his eyes were wide with inspiration, and determination.

"A lot, but apparently not enough for this place." Yinsen answered, watching Tony as he opened the front of the missile. I finished taking the bolts off, and used a flat head screwdriver to ply open the back. I glanced in at the layer of wires and metal in there. To anyone else this would look like nonsense, but that's the way we made it. It wouldn't do any good if everyone could copy our weapons. I tugged out the metal, careful not to force it, or cut the wires.

"They speak, Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Russian," Yinsen listed off, but I interrupted.

"I know that one." I said, wiggling the rest of the metal out. They looked at me. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you guys having a man's moment?" I asked, grinning at them. "I speak Russian, Italian, and French. Thanks for asking. You know feeling the love." I rambled, turning into a whisper after a few moments. I was only joking with them really. Tony snorted at me and kept talking with Yinsen.

Tony yanked out the other side of the missile, the part I didn't need just yet. We only need wiring from about two missiles, with just the two of us, but we needed a lot more of the palladium, and soon I would need to help break down what seemed to be like millions of missiles. It hurts to even think that now, I'm sitting here taking apart my own missiles in a cave, being held hostage, and tied to a battery that is keeping me alive. I think it'd hurt anyone really but…it's just something that changes your perspective on your life. So far my life hasn't really amounted to anything more than money and weapons. Neither of those things means something in the long run.

"Who are these people?" Tony asked Yinsen. I cut off some of the wires, obviously using wire cutters but also being careful not to split the copper and iron pieces from each other. I needed the blue, red and green wires but I couldn't cut the green one off without cutting the yellow first or…well boom. I moved the glob of metal closer to the light that was balancing close to the table's edge, while Tony began to get to the palladium.

"Your loyal customers, sir." Yinsen answered.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, pulling back my hand when I cut myself using the wire cutters. I made a face at the little cut. I hate pain period, and after all of this pain I've already been through, you'd think this wouldn't mean anything, but it just hurt okay. I grabbed a rag from somewhere and wiped away the blood, getting back to work in a noticeably worse mood.

"They are called the Ten Rings." Yinsen filled in Tony, but I already knew. I think it was one of the questions I first asked wasn't it? Ah, who knows? I glanced at them and Tony had pulled something out from behind the other hunk of metal, which held the palladium in it. Tony brought it to my table, with the light and began picking through it for the palladium slice that was in it.

"You know, we might be more productive if you two include me in the planning process." Yinsen hinted. I snickered, and finally cut the last wire. I speculatively looked at the wires. Yes, they were the right length, but I didn't need that yellow one. I threw it in the trash at the edge of the table. Then I grabbed the metal piece that Tony had dragged out, the piece before he got to the piece he's using now, and I started cutting.

I jumped when Tony threw the piece of metal he was working on over his shoulder, "Okay, we don't need this." He held up the little life saving piece of palladium. It was silver colored, and thin in a rectangular shape. We were going to need a lot more than that.

"What is that?" Yinsen asked. I moved towards them, as they were on the other side of the small table from me.

"That is palladium, 0.15 grams." I told him, staring at the little strip that was going to keep Tony and I's hearts beating.

"We need at least 3.2." Tony told Yinsen, looking to the man, already knowing that this process was going to be long and complicated. "So why don't you go ahead and break down the other 23?" Tony asked Yinsen. I rubbed the side of my face with my hand. I suppose it was better than a lot of paper work, but I'm starting to appreciate the lack of physical work I have to do for the paper work.

It took two days for us to break down the twenty two missiles, and we ended up wasting some time trying to make sure that they didn't catch us. But I spent some of the third day making the mold for the palladium to be shaped. We needed two, and my whole, in my chest would need to be cut larger, merrily because but it was going to be okay. I'd have some of the left over anesthetic, that we were splitting between Tony and I, so it should just be a little more ache around the circle in my chest, but just for a little while. Yinsen says it shouldn't be as bad as the time before.

Now Tony and I were holding our battery's up, carefully watching Yinsen take the palladium, in a smelting cup, and pour it into the molds that I made, carefully made. "Careful…" Tony warned Yinsen who held the smelting cup carefully, and steadily.

"Easy…" I muttered myself, worried. There was no way that we'd get any more palladium, either because they didn't have any more, or because they would get fed up with us. We were probably already walking a thin wire as it is.

"Careful, we only get one shot at this." Tony warned again. Yinsen smirked.

"Relax. I have steady hands. They are the reason you two are still alive." Yinsen told us. I rolled my eyes and went ahead and placed my battery down on the table as Yinsen carefully made his way over to the table to pour. Tony followed my example, dropping his battery down as well.

I held my breath as Yinsen began to pour the liquid palladium into the first mold, and then the next. I zoned in on it, while Yinsen and Tony muttered to each other. I breathed out when everything went according to plan, and the palladium melded to the mold. I held up my hand for a high five and Tony snorted at my enthusiasm, but none the less gave me a high five.

"We're on our way." I teased.

For the next day and a half we worked continuously, taking the palladium from the mold, placing it carefully in a glass casing, and then welding with small welding utensils so that we could get the previously mentioned wires, having stripped them of the protective outsides and soaked them in the necessary chemicals so that we could use the actual wiring and correctly. We had to use magnify glasses on some of the things, something Tony and I really had to adjust to, seeing as we were both so used to having Jarvis around to do the work for us. It was a trip, doing things for ourselves for once. Most of the time we are spoiled rich kids, and don't even realize that someone has to actually do their own stuff.

Finally on the third day we connected the ready arc reactor to a source of special blue energy, which could only be conducted through the palladium, thus the importance. Tony had his hair slicked back again with grease, and I had mine tied back with stray pieces of wiring. My jacket was off, and I had oil and dirt stains on me, not even taking breaks to shower seemed important anymore. I was just ready to not have to worry about one more thing.

I sat in front of the two finished arc reactors, just waiting for that dial to be switched on, to see if the idea of a miniaturized arc reactor could work. "So, who should do the honors?" I asked quietly, as if I would blow the entire arc reactors up if I were to speak above a whisper. I looked up to Tony and Yinsen. Yinsen, as pristine as he can be in this place, was looking to Tony, who met my green eyes. He smiled at me, something rare in these caves, and something I looked for from him, even if I had to shock it out of him.

"You." Tony decided. I smiled at him, happily. Before this place, and after Tony started being…Tony, he would have wanted to do it. I reveled in this wonder, as I started flipping the switch through the power stages. The more I amped the reactors, the more of the blue light funneled from the connection tube, and into the arc reactors. Not only that, but the lights began to flicker, and when I hit the max, a few unused bulbs smashed. I jumped, and glanced at them but then steadied my attention on the arc reactors.

"We did it." I muttered happily, as everything, except the lights in the background that were protesting their lack of power, remained stable. I looked up to Tony, but he wasn't looking at the arc reactors, like I suspected. Strangely he was tenderly looking at me. The look only confused me.

"We did." Tony repeated, standing straight and full on grinning at me now. "You've come a long way from engineering as a hobby." Tony told me, rubbing my head. I muttered curses as I felt over my nasty hair. God, I miss civilization right now. Yinsen at some point had taken his hat off, which was dorky if you wanted my opinion, and now was looking in wonder at the two creations awaiting installment into our chests.

"Wow," He whispered. "Those do not look like Jericho missiles." He told us.

"That's because they are miniaturized arc reactors." I told him, grabbing a spare rag that was on the table, so that I could wipe my hands off, and my face.

"Anna and I have a big one powering our factory at home." Tony intoned, now looking contemplatively and soberly at the arc reactors. "It should keep the shrapnel out of our hearts." Tony told him. I gauged how much of the energy had been fueled into the palladium, to see if there was enough in there that it could hold its own energy conducting source. It just needed a little more I believe.

"But what could it generate?" Yinsen asked. I looked up at him.

"If my math is appropriate, and I don't mean to brag but it is one of my strong points." I noted. "Three gigajoules a second sounds exact." I told him, resting my head on my hand. So far, I'd had three hours of sleep since that first day that Tony and I had rejoined each other.

"That could run your hearts for…fifty lifetimes." Yinsen figured up. I looked him in the eye as Tony answered for us.

"Yeah, or some big for 15 minutes." Tony answered. I stood up and stretched, popping my back quite a few times, leaving a dull ache there. My bruises were healing up nicely, with zero complaint from me. All of the moving around I'd done had helped my soreness, and the aching to where I felt no pain, as of right now anyways.

"Which one of you wishes to go first?" Yinsen asked the question that had been weighing on all of our minds. I sighed and tried in vain to push my greasy hair back from my face. What could I do? I asked myself. I didn't want to see Tony go through it; I mean it's going to be bloody and probably a painful process to watch. I don't want to do it first though, what if it doesn't work? The process has to go fast, so that the shrapnel doesn't pass to close to our hearts. The shrapnel didn't make it too far; it usually takes an entire week to take a life. Going though it now though, will probably make it easier for me, instead of just waiting for it to come to me.

"I'll go first." I looked to Tony, surprised. Since when did Tony want to do things first, without me trying it out? Who was the first one to try the new computers, the new equipment, and the newest rum? Tony always waited for me to go first, even if it was something simple.

"You absolutely will _not_!" I exclaimed, looking at him in disagreement. Tony only looked back at me, with a straight face and a determined look that I'd never seen on his face before.

"Like hell you are." Tony answered, moving forward, laying one hand on the desk, next to what I'm sure is the finished arc reactors, energy all soaked up, but I wasn't paying attention to that, or the still flickering lights. Instead I was paying attention to the odd Tony, who, for once wanted to take up his responsibilities.

"And why not?" I yelled at him, moving forward as well, my battery wires stretching. "I'm not going to sit and watch Yinsen put the arc reactor in your chest!" I told him, poking him on the right side of the electromagnet. Tony grimaced and opened his mouth to argue again. "No!" I closed his mouth with a finger under his chin. "I may put up with you not going to meetings, and I may put up with your one night hops, but I'm putting _that _thing in my chest, first." I huffed, and turned to Yinsen, who had been looking between us. It took me a second before I grinned soothingly at Yinsen.

"Jesus." Tony muttered, and then grinned at me. "You're scary when you're angry." Tony told me. I rolled my eyes and huffed. "All, five feet of you." Tony joked, trying to relieve some of the tension I suppose. I shrunk up in mock anger, hitting Tony's arm lightly.

"Come on, I'll show you something before we go under." Tony said, moving to another table, the lights began to stabilize, the less of the energy that the arc reactors needed fueled into it. Yinsen and I followed Tony with no argument, of course he wouldn't have had to tell me to follow, that's just my job, to shadow Tony everywhere he goes and make sure he's always okay. Tony shuffled a few tracing papers together, and stacked them together. I moved forward to look through them.

"No way." I muttered, surprised. Was this…?

"This is our ticket out of here." Tony said, needlessly, or not so needlessly, seeing as Yinsen couldn't understand all of these plans, but I got it and I was amazed. Only Tony could come up with something this magnificent, in a cave with a bunch of scraps. I let go of the tracing paper and thought of all the possibilities. I mean, what if we were back home? Do you understand how far we could take this? And…we could use it for something other than handing over to the army, at least until we find out who's been dealing under the table.

"What is it?" Yinsen asked, not as technology understanding as Tony and I are.

"Flatten them out and look." Tony ordered, and then did it himself. I looked, in complete and utter awe at the piece of drawn machinery in front of me. If we could pull this off….We'd be not only home free, but we'd have something amazing to do afterwards. What we could do with this technology, if it works, and it always does, we could save some of the lives that we had taken indirectly. I breathed out in shocked amazement.

"Tony…this is…" I muttered, flipping through the many layers of tracing paper. "Amazing." I picked up a plate, correcting some of where the bolts where with a pencil I'd stuck behind my ear.

"Impressive." Yinsen, the ever neutral man said. I looked through all of the tracing paper and distractedly told Yinsen, "Go ahead and prepare the treatment table." I told him, changing a few wiring difficulties, so we'd get more mobility out of the legs. Tony sat down beside me, watching me fix a few of his mistakes. I didn't notice, or really care, being too engrossed in the project before me. I licked my lips thinking hard, something seemed wrong with the plate that covered the neck. There was no way that we could fit it that way, unless we cover the neck with something leather, or else it'd rub Tony's skin off every time he moved.

"Anna," Tony stated, getting my attention. I turned to him, and then Yinsen who was holding one of the finished arc reactor's in his for once clean hands. I set the tracing paper down and stood up.

"Right." I said, moving towards the table that had been stained a darker color then natural, from just blood that I'm sure came from Tony and I's body. I tugged off my leather jacket, with so many memories tugged in every wrinkle of it's fabric, placing it on Tony and I's bed. I pulled the thin shirt I had on, off, and stopped at the bra. I didn't need to take it off, because I'd been given one more, just yesterday but it would get soaked with my blood if I didn't. I didn't care, there was no way I wanted Tony to see my breasts.

I climbed onto the nightmarish table and I cringed as I placed my head on the pillow that braced my head. Yinsen moved over to the table and picked up the IV that was as clean as we could get it, which wasn't very clean, no matter how hard we tried. I grimaced when he stuck the IV, carefully into the vein in my right arm. Yinsen looked to me for permission to start the IV. I glanced once at Tony, seeing the out of character worry and sighed, nodding.

Once Yinsen opened the valve for the anesthetic to go down, I watched the path the clear medicine took through the tube, to disappear into my arm. The effect was close to immediate. I couldn't explain it if you asked me today but it was like forcefully falling asleep at a desk. You didn't want to go to sleep, and you had no time to, but your body was overruling every attempt to stay awake your brain made.

I don't know how long I was out, but I know it felt like I was half awake, though I couldn't feel anything. Have you ever felt awake, but asleep at the same time? Like you believe your muscles are moving and you're doing something but you aren't? It's the best way I could explain this feeling of being under the anesthetic. At some point the feeling faded but instead of awakening like a sleeping beauty, I fell deeper into slumber, losing base with consciousness all together despite the tightness that was new to my chest.

When I awakened next, it was to a lumpy, but warm mattress and me on my side. For a moment I panicked, only clinging for a moment to the nightmare of steel feet and aching ribs before I realized that I was in the cave with Tony, and they hadn't hit or kicked me in a few days. This dream though, gave me bad feelings. I panicked a little more when I realized that I was sleeping on my side and there was no feeling of wires tugging. I moved, glancing down and what met my eyes was the blue shine of the arc reactors energy. I breathed out heavily. It was a welcome sight that I wish I didn't have to see. I can't imagine needing this little light to keep me going. Was this how people with pacemakers felt?

I sat up, carefully and analyzed the mobility of the arc reactor. There was a little sting and I frowned. There was only a dull tugging sensation around the arc reactor, no doubt due to the amount of scar tissue now on my chest. I could feel the pressure of having the reactor in my chest, but instead of being frightening it felt…comforting. I felt like I was safe with that weight on my chest. I sighed and brought my hand up to rub it, gently pressing on it a bit, not enough to unlock it, as Yinsen had had to insert a tub to fit the arc reactor into, no doubt the cause of the tightness.

I glanced away from the arc reactor to look around the room. Nothing looked new, but the bluish white light radiating from my barely clothed chest bathed the room near me in a light, illuminating the blood soaked cloth of my bra. I tugged the extra bra, and a shirt out from under there safe place beneath the bed. Then, hesitating I looked around for my fellow captives. Yinsen and Tony, to my surprise as I didn't think he'd have been awake yet, were to my even greater shock playing some kind of game, using bolts and nuts. They couldn't see me though, so I quickly changed out of my bloody bra. I hadn't needed bandages it seemed, but that was okay with me. I tugged on my jacket over my shirt and stood up, stumbling for a moment.

I glanced around again to see they'd started already on the armor, I could see some welding had been done, and most of the metal flattened. That was alright, I no longer had the strength to do any of the metal shaping, because of my lack of food, and now lack of nutritional food. I was slowly losing any weight I still had on me. I'd always been a thin person, but never this thin. I seemed anorexic at best. I moved on my legs, making sure nothing had been damaged during the surgery but surprisingly seemed in check, even better than I'd expected.

I cautiously began to move towards the gaming two. Everything seemed easier now that I didn't have to worry about pulling the wires out, or dropping the battery, or even breathing to large a breathe. I could breathe fine, and walk without hindrance. I pulled up a chair, creaky and sat beside the two, grabbing both of their attention. "How long have I been out?" I asked quietly, not willing to break the optimistic mood I'm currently in. Though, seeing that bright blue light that already shone from my chest, showing in Tony's chest just like it did in mine, really brightened my day.

"Two days." Tony answered, eyeing me as if I would break, and the blue light that shone through the shirt and through my hair which was growing more, down to the start of my thighs. "We let you sleep, since you've been getting so little." Tony told me, rolling some kind of dice. Yinsen looked back to the board and smiled lightly, not a happy smile, but a smile.

"Good roll." He muttered. I analyzed the game, but it didn't interest me. Instead I tugged a notebook my way, and a mechanics flat pencil my way, deciding to doodle some. I looked up at the scene the two made, they would make good subjects. I began with Tony's slick hair, working my way down.

"You still haven't told me where you're from." Tony stated, trying to make conversation I suppose. I looked up to Yinsen interested, and also wanting to start on the picture of them together. I used to draw a lot, before I took over my parent's company. It was back when I was just a smart kid, and hadn't been a genius just yet, when I wasn't pushed into doing something all the time. I remember drawing on those long business trips, when my nanny couldn't take me on, or when mom demanded my presence, in hopes of getting the attention of the other business people. I remember I'd been drawing when I met Tony.

**At a young age, when I was nine, I was a sad kid. I had long black hair, big green eyes and a dislike for everyone. I wouldn't show it; in fact everyone just thought I was the little cute kid. I played with educational toys, wearing them out in hopes that my parents would love me if I was smart. I was at Vinci, in my Mom's office. She had wanted to bring me to the office, in hopes that the Stark's would sign to work a little with us. (It wasn't agreed to because my mother was greedy.) **

**I was drawing the really pretty empire state building that was outside, among all of the other buildings. I was sitting in a corner, where a little glass table and a small chair had been placed off to the side for me. It didn't really matter. When I did come here I was always rushed around the business room so Mother could show me off to her friends. **

**I sighed as I doodled in a pretty plane with the Stark symbol on the side. When the door opened to Mother's office, I expected to see Ms. Cindy, Mom's assistant coming to tell me that Mother was ready for me to come to the business room and talk to the adults. Instead I saw a boy my age poke his head in the doors. I shrunk into my chair, tugging on my hair. He had brown hair that ruffled around his ears, and brown eyes that locked onto me.**

"**Hey!" He grinned at me, walking fully into the room, hurrying to close the door. He practically bounced over to where I sat wide eyed and curious. No one my age ever talked to me. It was always the adults with their false smiles, and mean eyes. **

"**Hi." I muttered, covering up the picture I'd been drawing. I didn't fool him though. This boy was persistent. **

"**Whatcha doing?" The boy asked me, sitting in the big chair that Mother put there so that it looked like she played with me. I stared at him, my eyes probably taking up my entire head I was so surprised! **

"**Ummm…Mother let's me draw." I muttered looking down at a few of my drawings, one of Mother in her big desk, and another of a flower she kept in her shelf. I liked to draw it because there was always a different flower there when I came in.**

"**Can I see?" The boy asked me. I felt my fingers clench around my dress, a cute little white dress with red flowers on it that matched my ribbon. **

"**Ummm….sure." I said, gulping for breath as he pulled the pictures over to him, grinning as he saw each one of them.**

"**This is really great!" The boy smiled at me, I noticed he had dimples on his face. "Wow, my tutor would be fascinated by these. I can't draw, but she says it's a good way to do something in the future. I think she wanted to be an artist, but her drawings aren't like this." He blathered, and I stared at him. I'd just been…actually praised? No one's ever praised me and meant it, not even nanny. She only does it because she has to, I know because I heard her talking to the kitchen cook. They don't like me either.**

"**Thank you." I told him, fiddling with my pencil. "Uhh…who are you? If I can ask." I added on. I didn't even know who this was, in his little jeans and stripped shirt. **

"**I'm Tony Stark." This Tony guy said, puffing his chest out. I flushed and smiled at him. This was the kid of the people that Mom wanted to sign with. **

"**I'm Annabella Vinci." I said, copying him and puffing my chest out. He laughed at me and I shrank back. **

"**That's a long name." He told me, propping his chin up and then swinging his legs back and forth. I messed with my dress, hoping to make me look better. "Don't they call you anything?" I blinked.**

"**No." I answered, flushing. They called me things, not to my face but that was okay, I didn't want to hear them anyways. "Just Annabella." I told him, scribbling on a piece of paper. **

"**Well, then, I'll call you….Anna!" He announced. I smiled tentatively at him.**

"**Anna…" I tried out. "I like it." **

"**Of course you did!" Tony bragged, and then he hopped out of his chair. "My father's in a meeting and I ditched my Nanny. Let's go explore." He told me, smiling.**

"**Explore? Like the people in the amazon?" I asked. I've never…explored before. "Can we chop down trees? And save the people?" I asked, excited, hoping out of my own chair.**

"**Of course! That's what they're for!" Tony announced. "Who do you want to be?" He asked me. **

"**I wanna be Anna." I said, confused. "That's my name." I told him. He sighed and shook his head.**

"**No, when you play a game, you have to be someone. I've seen the other kids and that's what they do. Look, I can choose first. I'm Captain America, and you can be…Agent Carter!" He announced. This story, I knew it seeing as it was in the history books. He helped to defeat Hydra, and Hitler when they tried to take over the world. I'd already been taught that. **

"**Okay!" I said. Agent Carter was an old friend of the family but she doesn't come around much, ever since Mom and Dad started really gaining universal attention. **

"**Come on!" **

I remember those days fondly, even when sitting here in this cave, doodling Tony years from that first meeting. I'd been so shy back then, but Tony had still been Tony just like he is today. Though, I have to say Tony wouldn't have asked Yinsen if we were anywhere else.

"I live in a small town called Gulmira." Yinsen answered Tony, moving again. I sketched the arms of Tony, and his jacket, which was open to show the arc reactor which shown brightly in his chest, with the red around his arc reactor that said to me that his 'surgery' hadn't been that wonderful. I could see more on his reactor, such as the edges of the tube, where the arc reactor locked together with the tube.

"Where is that?" I asked distractedly.

"Close." Was all Yinsen answered. "Maybe two, three days walk from here." Tony moved. I looked to a cup of water on the table, and then decided to drink it. I smiled when I realized that it was tea and not water as I had thought. Tony looked at me and pouted. I must have drunk his drink. Oh well, he can deal with it. "It's actually a nice place." I doubted it was, but that was probably from being from different cultures and being surrounded by different descriptions of normality. For me, dirt on the ground and the air, and the house, and the food was never a good think, but maybe Yinsen was just used to it, who really knew? I mean, he'd be a little overwhelmed if he had to live in a mansion where everything you wanted was just an order away, and you didn't have to work for any of it. Well, I work but I don't fight for every morsel of food.

Then something struck me. What if he had other people to look after? I don't have a family, no extended family and both of my parents are dead. My family has all strategically been taken out; their killers caught a moment to soon. So I hadn't come to me to think about this before. "Do you have a family?" I asked Yinsen, watching Tony fix himself another thing of whatever kind of tea this was. It looked like they'd gathered the tea leaves in as clean a rag as they could find and I have to admit it wasn't the worst, or the best idea in the world.

"Yes," Yinsen said lightly, his voice a little more high pitch than before. "And I will see them when I leave here." I frowned but there was no sense in my calling him out on the lie, seeing as I didn't know really if he was lying or he just felt that sad.

"And you, Anna?" Yinsen asked. I flinched, almost ruining my doodle.

"Um, no." I muttered, scribbling on my paper. I didn't have any family, friends, or really anyone who cared. I hate to admit it but somewhere deep in my core, I knew that Tony was the only one I had now and that was the reason that I held so tightly to him all the time. Pepper wasn't that close, as of late, and Rhodey was Tony's best friend, though he was in everyway Tony's opposite. No one but Tony. What a sad life I've lived.

"Stark?" Yinsen asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise at me. Tony was looking down at the board now, not meeting Yinsen's eyes, but strangely enough not moving on the board. He just made a funny movement with his lip, as if he found this topic painful. I wouldn't doubt that it was, seeing as neither of his parents showed much affection.

"No." Tony stated, finally moving on the board again. I finished Yinsen and Tony, beginning on the background now, the cave of wonders. Sarcasm.

"No?" Yinsen asked in surprise. He looked between the silent Tony and I. There was no talking for a moment and then Yinsen spoke his disbelief. "So you two are the couple that has everything, and yet nothing." He said. Tony stilled, glancing at me but my heart flipped in nausea. What could I say to that? He was right, I had nothing. Hell, there's going to be nobody waiting on me if we do get out of here. The only real person I have is right here beside me, and he has plenty of other people waiting on him.

But when I looked at him, he looked paler than before, and his eyes were a million miles away. I sighed and rubbed my face. "We should get back to work." I said, moving the finished doodle to the table. Tony's hollow eyes looked at the picture and then he was back in the cave with us. I blinked as he picked it up and raised his eyebrows.

"You've gotten a lot better." Tony noticed, glancing up at me. I grinned at him.

"Thank you." I told him, stepping up and out from the table, ready to work. I felt sort of rejuvenated because of my nap. I felt like I could handle the work load that would need to be pulled off as quickly as humanly possible. After all, if we spend to long on one thing, then they'll notice through those cameras that something is wrong.

I started on putting together the chest plate, using the cutting torch and welder. Yinsen started on cutting for the legs, and Tony started on the inner workings, and something that I thought suspiciously looked like an explosive. Not that it mattered, if we have explosives in the suit, he can have at it. It was hard, hot work but together, with three people we were making it. Every so often we'd force each other to take breaks. Surprisingly it was Tony who was the hardest to get to take breaks. But this _is _a different situation then just dragging him to meetings and doing paperwork.

We couldn't get the pieces perfect, like the ridges could be seen, and the corners weren't rounded. It was a far cry from Tony and I's usual work, but there was nothing we could really do about it. If I were being honest with you though, I felt kind of annoyed that I couldn't make it look good to. I wanted the last thing these people see is a perfect suit of armor taking down their forces, all by their own doing. I mean, who was the one that stuck the world's greatest known inventors in a cave with all of the things we would need to make bombs, and mines, and missiles to kill them with? Who is stupid enough to do that?

If they had been smart, they would have merely gotten us to draw the blueprints, and given it to someone they were _paying _and who was _loyal _to them to make it. I'm not going to tell them that though, for obvious reasons of course. I'm pretty sure their mistake will have been made when Tony takes them out.

It was a week and a half later that we were almost finished. Tony and Yinsen had checked out the leg joints, to make sure they had enough mobility for Tony to walk strongly in the suit, and not over balance. So far everything had been all right, and we were finishing up well. However, I was working on cutting out a protective piece for Tony's back, when there was that foreign screaming from the door. It had happened once or twice, and Yinsen would answer but now Yinsen dropped the hammer and chisel he'd been using and put his hands over his head. Tony, who was close to me, having been working on the chest plates inside workings, and I were quick to follow, me turning off the torch.

The vault like door was opened and a large group of men came in the door, carrying guns and wearing the clothing of their people. The cruel man was here again, walking in and looking around but to my surprise he was not in the middle, like the leader. Instead it was the bald man. I shuttered unnoticeably. That man had been there every time that I'd been beaten. I bit the inside of my cheek and swallowed away the memories of the boots, the kicks, the hits, the bruises, everything. I wouldn't let this over come me.

We all looked at him with caution, but out of the three of us I believe that I was the only one to have seen him before. He stopped inside, and looked to Tony and I, then Yinsen and back to us. "Relax." He said. Was he going to try to gain our favor, threaten us, or just plain out beat us? Who knew but him? With all these people in here they could have been tired of waiting and had decided to just shoot us instead.

Tensely I watched as the man moved forward, taking slow, unhurried steps towards Tony. My breath became short until my breath stuck in my throat, as the bald man moved Tony's shirt, which was unbuttoned enough for the arc to breath. We hadn't thought of that in our plans, and so we'd had to leave our shirts open. It wasn't so bad for Tony but as a girl, and my boobs being the last weight I had on me, I had to watch what I was doing so that this bra, my last one, didn't move to far over and give one of the men a free shot. Not that I was really worried about that, but I like to think that it was a way for me to hold on to reality.

"The bow and arrow," The bald man began, looking over at my own chest that was shining with the same light as Tony's. I pressed my lips together as he move toward me, so that the others could not see his face. But I saw the dirty smirk on his face. It took every bit of self restraint that I'd perfected having dealt with Tony, not to reach forward and knock the smirk right off of his face. "Once was the pinnacle of weapons technology." He turned away from me to look at all three of us, moving again slowly to where we were all in his vision now.

Then he moved towards our things, all of the metal being strewn out. I released a quiet but shakey breath as he moved away from us. Only I sucked my lungs back in when he got closer to where all of the papers, with the plan on them were strewn out everywhere, but the body of the armor, the pieces of tracing paper, were stacked one on top of the other again.

"It allowed the great Genghis Khan," he continued. I didn't know what he was talking about. Was he talking about history kind of bow and arrow, or some kind of 'Bow and Arrow' company? Though Genghis Khan probably meant history. "To rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine."

I shuddered as he picked up a group of wires; all attached to what would control Tony's left arm movements. Tony glanced back at me, without moving his head and I met his worried eyes with my own panicking ones before I looked back to the speaking man. "An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great." Oh, so I was correct, it was history. It's all very fuzzy, as my history lessons have always been, you understand. "And four times the size of the Roman Empire." I frowned as he walked back in front of Tony and I, slow and showing us that he didn't feel threatened by us at all.

"But today," I gulped as he picked up the tracing paper, lying on the table like I had feared. I looked to Yinsen, being behind the bald man's back but he shook his head and his hand, telling Tony, who was also looking, not to panic. "Who ever holds the latest Stark and Vinci weapons rules these lands. And soon," He ruffled through the tracing paper and it came to me that they were upside down. He didn't even understand what they were. We were safe. I watched as he placed them back down unaware. "It will be my turn." He turned to us, trying to be menacing but I was caught up in the relief that we'd yet to be found out.

I soon returned to reality when the bald man looked specifically at me, frowning and then his face cleared, he turned to Tony, standing in front of him, Tony taller by half an inch. Then he started speaking in some language that I couldn't understand. Apparently he was talking to Yinsen because Yinsen answered. I watched, looking between Yinsen and Tony, and the bald man. Tony looked worried for Yinsen, while the man himself had moved, looking away from us so that he could speak straight to Yinsen. I frowned.

They stood together and I shuffled on my feet, trading a glance of worry with Tony about this. How could this have happened? We were so careful that they didn't know what we were doing. I nearly moved forward when the bald man ordered two of the men with the guns to get Yinsen to his knees. The bald man moved toward the fire, and I couldn't see what he was doing but that didn't matter because I knew it would be bad. Without thinking I clutched onto Tony's sleeve, anxious. Tony grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed it, stay in place it told me.

Then the bald man turned around, holding a coal in a pair of pincers. I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. Oh, no. "What does he want?" Tony asked, finally greatly concerned enough to ask. The man took hold of Yinsen's head and moved it onto an anvil pushing it down, ordering Yinsen to do something. The conversation was hectic, getting louder and louder.

"What do you want?" I yelled, while Tony moved forward releasing my hand.

"A delivery date?" Tony asked, trying to think what they could possibly want from Yinsen. I freaked when the men with the guns came forward, all speaking in different languages, but the meaning was clear. 'Don't take another step towards him.' I pulled in a sharp breath and moved forward, only to stand beside Tony slightly behind him. I'd back him up if they tried to shoot him down. "Jeez." Tony muttered.

Now the man was looking at Tony and I, not Yinsen. "I need him." Tony told him strongly, trying not to give away any emotion. Tony was good at that, but it was probably from years of being in the limelight. "Good assistant." Tony said, nodding his head. I watched as the man's eyes started glinting with an idea, probably something that we wouldn't like. I could almost feel it.

I didn't hear it though. One second he ordered the men to do something and the next I yelped as I was grabbed by both arms and hauled forward towards the door. "Anna!" I heard but I didn't look back, that would do no good. Instead I swung my hair over my face, so that couldn't see how scared I was. Not fighting, I remember that was part of the way to do it. It always made them angrier.

"You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile. If you do not make it, then Vinci will be slowly boiled to death." The man said, walking behind me, the men falling in line as I was roughly man handled out the door. I heard the large vault door swing closed behind me and locked. The hall was just as I remembered it; cave like and with bad lighting along the walls. For once my head was not shoved into a bag, or my eyes covered at all. They led me through the halls and without even having to think about it I knew where they were carrying me, to that room, by myself. I groaned in misery but no one noted it. Again we passed by the place of light but now I knew what it was, I could see out of it to a bright light mostly but also cars with guns on them, and a lot of them.

As they pushed me faster I realized that what I had seen was where they parked their vehicles. If I could get out there, then I could find my way out. I could grab one of those cars. I knew how to hotwire a car, after all I've made cars before, but I was cautious to do so. If it backfired, which Stark & Vinci cars are made to do, and then I would be shocked by a few bolts of electricity and would remain in a stupor for four hours. Enough time for them to realize that I was gone and would kill me.

As they shoved me into the room, onto the floor that had been stained with my blood, I knew that at least this time I didn't have to worry about if Yinsen or Tony were hurt. They'd be fine now, and they could make the armor. When they released it I'd make my way out, somehow. I just have to worry about the door first. I looked back now, at the closed door and looked it over. The metal would be a problem, but if I could lure the man over to the door I may have a chance.

For now I scooted back to the edge of my corner, not even noticing the blood there and planned. I could call the man over and opening in the door was just at waist level, where I knew the key to be held on the guard. I hadn't been able to do much while I was in here before but looking out of the slit had been a constant. After that I could unlock the door, which conveniently also unlocks from the inside. No doubt that had been so that I couldn't lock them in here with me. Once I had that done I could fight the person out there, and grab any weapon I could find off of him. After that making my way back to the 'parking lot' they had. I would steal a car, and drive off to meet with Tony who would by that time be flying off, if we were lucky.

**Ta-da! I hope you enjoyed it! I had to work really hard on this scene and the next part. For some reason I couldn't get it to do what I wanted.**


	7. The Notes that I Write

The door swung open suddenly and in walked the bald man, with no one behind him. I looked him over. He wore camouflage, over what I assume is the acceptable attire for someone around here. I grimaced when I saw what he held in his hands, a menacing knife, the length of which could easily slit my wrists, and any other part of my body.

"Your…friend." He started, the door closed behind him. I used the wall for support as I stood up, to look the man in his cold black eyes. He could have been handsome, had his face not been screwed in a mean expression for so long that it stuck. All of those times that I've heard that crap about our faces sticking in one expression and here I was seeing it for myself. "Has taken to long. I assume that you understand my frustration." He said, fingering the knife with his free hand.

"We were trying. It's hard to build it with scraps." I lied. "We're more used to the materials being ready for us to work with." I told him, clinching my fists as he moved closer.

"Never the less something has to be done to…inspire Stark, should he not be done by tomorrow." The man said, smugly grinning. I watched his hand as he brought it up to run it along my cheek. My eyes met his again, but I didn't show any fear. That's what he wants and I'll be damned if I gave into this beast.

"You can kill me, but it won't do any good. The moment I'm dead he'll just stop making the weapons all together." I said moving forward, sneering at him. I knocked the blade out of the way with one hand, so I could get right up in his face. I only wanted to make sure he knew that I didn't fear him. "Tony and I are close, and he wouldn't last a day without me. Right now, he'll be hard pressed to finish the weapon but you don't know Tony Stark like I do." I warned him.

"Oh, who said anything about killing you?" He said, grinning, and moving back. I sighed softly with relief that I'd not be killed, hopefully he isn't lying, but my hackles raised as he flicked his wrist and two men hurried in, only to painfully grab my arms and pull me to the ground on my knees. I looked up to him in growing anger, and I'll admit a little fear.

"Then what are you going to do talk me to death?" I smugly asked him. Anything to keep him talking.

"No." He stated, his smugness gone. I gasped as he grabbed a fistful of hair. "But I hear that you are very…attached to your hair. It is a tradition in you family is it not? You gave an interview on it a long time ago. It was broadcasted internationally." He pulled all of my hair up and I struggled frantically. Not my hair. Of all the things I had expected, my hair hadn't been in the cards. I know it's silly, and on some level I should be thankful that my hair was the only thing he was cutting off but this was something I loved. I've had it long for such a long time that I can't ever remember it being short.

I cried out as I felt him swing the knife up dramatically and begin hacking away at my scalp, the knife nicking my skin in one of his chops. When I felt a tug and then the weight of my hair was gone. I looked to the floor in horror as the man dropped my long once beautiful locks fell to the floor at my feet. The men retreated quickly, all of them, but I only pulled my hair to me desperately.

"You are a pitiful waste of space on this earth." Raza sneered at me, removing his hands from my head, where he no longer had long pieces of hair to hold on to wrap his hands around my throat, squeezing harshly. "You do nothing but make weapons and tend to an overgrown bastard. You will all burn, and I will take your place, making this world a better place." Raza sneered before shoving me backwards and fleeing through the door.

"You will remember my name, Raza." He said from behind the door. I don't know why. This wasn't supposed to be that traumatic. After all it was just hair but still. It was something constant in my life. It had been the one thing that my Mother liked about me. I remember the days when my mother used to sit behind me and brush my hair why she talked on the phone.

Oddly I felt…freer. It was like with this gone I could finally breathe, as if I didn't have to worry about things so much. This was false, since I was still in the cave but in some strange way I felt that I could finally move one. Maybe I was finally going 'round the bin. It wouldn't surprise me much.

I dropped the loose hairs and instead raised my hands to inspect my head. The knick in my head was just at the top of my hairline, but I was worried more about the shortness. It was still greasy, what was left of it, and now it brushed my forehead, lying flat. I would have to do something with it later, once we were home.

Home…I've never called any place home before. I'd probably need to work on that to. Note to self: Work on a residence that you can love, not tolerate. Hmm…. I shuttered and tucked myself into a ball. I don't know how long I sat there, taking back as much of my sanity as possible. I thought of things that I could do once I was out of here, back home. Maybe I could build a new house, somewhere with a lot of people. That way if I ever get lonely I can find someone to talk to. But I also want to be able to close myself off from people if I want, so they can't see my life. I want a view to, not some crappy view though. Maybe of the city I chose.

I screamed in surprise when the door was thrown open again. Automatically my arms rose above me, and the two men wasted no time in hauling me up and nearly dragging me back to the room with Tony and Yinsen. They opened the large vault door and literally kicked me back into it. I rolled onto the dirt floor, and rushed out of the way of the door as it closed. I screamed as male arms closed around me, dragging me up. I tried to get away but then my eyes met the brown, worried eyes of Tony. For a second I froze from where I was once withering. Now I slumped into Tony's arms as he held me fast.

"Anna, Anna?" Tony called me, trying to get my attention. I sighed and looked at him. "What happened? Are you all right?" I pushed out of Tony's arms and stood shaking. Bracing myself on the door I put a hand to my head, frowning.

"I'm fine. He just cut my hair off." I calmly, more calm than I felt. My heart was beating fast. For a second I had believed that they would have brought me back to the torture room. I ruffled my hair and looked at Tony. "Well," I started, standing straight, and trying to pull everything together, checking the arc reactor. "You did say I should do something with my hair." I noted, trying to blow over the hair thing as I had not broken down over my hair.

Tony winced and I frowned at him. "I said you should dye it not get it hacked off by a terrorist." Tony said, reaching up hesitantly to run his fingers through my hair. I sighed and let him rub it for a moment, enjoying the feeling. Then I pushed his arm back in annoyance.

"Ah, well, it had to happen any ways. It was getting to long." I told him, walking away from the door and over to the tables. I had been gone at least half an hour and it seemed like they'd made progress. "Besides, I think once it's styled it could be pretty." I noted, picking up a few loose wires and started working contently, and fast. Tony stayed watching me for a moment before he to sighed and went back to work, though I did notice he looked at me more often, like I was just going to break before his eyes.

I highly doubt it. I'd already freaked out. Plus, I hadn't broken down in front of Tony in a long time. I hoped it stayed that way a long time. Not for his sake, I just don't want to look stupid in front of anyone. It's something that any kind of celebrity fears, bad press. If we try to fix it, it only gets worse or becomes international news. I've learnt from Tony's mistakes, I just stay in my house. Of course, Tony has to be the exception, not caring what the press says about him. Seeing as he's slept with most of them it doesn't really matter. They all think he walks on water and if it's a male he's either scared them with his reputation or they want to get in bed with him to. Who really knows?

For a long time I worked. I no longer bothered with breaks, barely moving to drink the filthy water. Not that there had been too many breaks before. Tony had made the mask, nearly making me drool. I had watched the bulging muscles in his arms and it amazed me so much that I could still be so turned on by him, when I was in such a dangerous situation. I loved the way he had looked and the only thing that I wanted to do was watch him beat the metal into shape. That was the only kind of break I had, watching him for a few seconds. Almost everything was ready, besides the straps that I was sewing right now for the arm. Yinsen and Tony were going over everything, ready to go.

I was sewing, poorly I might add, the leather straps that would keep the arm together. I was almost done. Yinsen was cranking up the makeshift suit holder. Tony worked on putting tape on his hands to guard them from the weight of the metal, not the right kind but it's the best we could do with the situation. I finished, using my teeth to cut the thick thread that was more knitting thread then sewing thread.

I moved, helping Tony to put on his thick leather jacket, not the same one that I've worn but a strong welder's jacket that we'd been very lucky to get out of the 'Ten Rings'. We were trying to be quick. We had worked through the night, or so I assume, and the ten rings could come at any time, wanting us to give them missiles that we don't have. I checked everything in the suit, helping to move it onto Tony as fast as possible. I helped him with the gloves, and the leather straps, one around his neck one around his waist, two on his thighs, and two on his arms.

I moved away from Tony then with a pat on his shoulder, so that I could start up the computer, and connect the basic construction of the computer program that was needed to get the suit to work. It would never make it outside of this cave without the programming, even with its old-ness. Something had to connect the arc reactor to the suit. All I could think about was how much I really wish we had JARVIS right about now.

"Okay can you move?" Yinsen said, still working fast to put the suit on Tony who had nodded in answer. I turned, waiting on the program to pull up on the old monitor, with such an old hard drive the computer took a long time to mobilize. I shifted the suit by the waist, trying to make it sit right on Tony's shoulders. I started pulling on the metal arms, connecting them by their sockets to the main suit, and the wires connecting to the main power box located behind all of the armor in Tony's chest area.

I glanced at the screen, and moved back to it, pulling up the necessary implements and began typing fast. "Okay, say it again." I told Tony, trying to make sure we were all on the same side when it came to the plan. It had all been very hard to decide what to do but when it boiled down to it there wasn't much that Yinsen and I could do, besides follow Tony out. I'd told Yinsen about the second get away, to the parking lot and Yinsen had agreed that we should go out that way, while they were focused on Tony, who could defend himself. It made me sick knowing that for once there was something I couldn't do to protect Tony, but what could I do?

"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right." Tony recited. I blew out some air and grabbed a canister of oil, working on getting as much movement as I could out of the joints while the next part of the program loaded into the suit. Everything was almost ready. I placed the rim of the helmet onto Tony's neck, so that when he nodded his head forward the mask would fome to protect his face. I looked him in the eye and raised my eyebrows.

"How does it feel? Right? Not cutting you off?" I asked, trying to keep the rim on the leather, without disconnecting the pieces. Tony nodded and I moved lower, checking everything on the way. Yinsen had connected the legs, but I connected the right wires, Yinsen not comprehending the workings fully yet. I froze though when foreign voices called from the doorway. I glanced over and someone was speaking.

"Yinsen! Stark! Vinci!" He called out. That's all I could understand. The rest was gibberish that I couldn't get. I looked frantically at Yinsen, getting up and taking a few steps back for a second.

"Say something." Tony ordered Yinsen, unable to move at all on his own right now, until the program loaded. I glanced back at the screen as Yinsen fumbled. It was almost ready for the last sequence. I grabbed Yinsen.

"Anything, just say something to let them know we are here." I said, on the outside calm. My adrenaline was like fire in my veins and flushing my cheeks. I could do this. Yinsen fluttered.

"He's speaking Hungarian, I don't…" Yinsen said, panicking.

"Well, speak Hungarian." I finally panicked. If they came in here everything would be lost. We weren't ready yet. I glanced at the screen but it wasn't ready yet. I went back to checking the feet and, the connection lines.

"Okay…I know.." Yinsen said, and then spoke in what I suppose is Hungarian to the people at the door. It didn't seem to help. I watched as they moved back from the door and I'm guessing that they tried to open the door because all of a sudden the door seemed to explode. I crouched behind Tony's metal legs, so as not to get harmed from the blast. Then I shot up, looking at the destruction in shocked amusement. Of course, Tony….

"How did that work?" Tony asked, not even twitching. I tightened a few loose bolts and shook my head.

"You…." I muttered. "Sometimes Tony I wonder how you think of things." I told him absent-mindedly.

"Oh my goodness…" Yinsen answered Tony as well. I faltered, putting down my wrench to get to work on the sequence, now Tony was watching my work, anxious even though there wasn't a sign of it on his face. I glanced hastily at the open passage way now. I felt like the people were just going to break through the hall any moment now and kill us. "It worked all right."

"It's what I do." Tony remarked calmly, much calmer than I felt, but Tony always did have a better poker face then he let on that he did. Sometimes I wondered if he ever let that face go and was himself any more. I faltered with the prep looking back to make sure everything was connected, as it needed to be when the last step was done.

"Okay, we're ready." I announced hastily starting up the process.

"All right, talk to me, tell me the progress." Tony ordered. I looked back at the door again. "Don't worry about the door yet." Tony said.

"Function 11." I said, doing as I was supposed to initialize the power sequence. "The progress bar has arrived." I told them and pushed a few more buttons. "Control I." I stated, waiting. We were ready. "Go and button him up." I told Yinsen, myself working on the links between his legs, trying to secure the links better, so they wouldn't come undone and show a sensitive part that people could aim at. I didn't even flicker, though even two months earlier this position was stuff of dreams for me. Of course it was in a different scenario. I looked up when the sound of scream in a foreign language and the sound of fast footsteps hurrying down the way.

I looked at the progress bar. It was stalling, and there wasn't anyway possible that we could get it done before Tony was ready to go. I looked around for something to help. "They're coming." Yinsen said, looking at the progress bar himself.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you two follow me out." Tony stated, almost reading what I had already thought of. If one of us were to go through the halls with the gun in one of the dead men's hands, then we could buy time for the other two. I moved forward to grab one but Yinsen's hands on the tops of my arms stopped me. I looked to him.

"We need more time." I told him, looking between him and the hallway. "Let me go." I told him, trying to tug away but for the frail man that he was, he had a tough grip, not that my mass was any kind of challenge.

"For once, let some one else protect you." Yinsen said, squeezing my arms.

"Yinsen, this isn't the time for me-" I panicked, still trying to talk sense into him. We were to far away from Tony for him to hear but I could hear him asking what was going on.

"Please," Yinsen begged. I met his eyes and there was nothing I could do. In that one moment he looked so broken, like the world had ended and he was the only one left to walk in it. I watched as he stumbled to the dead body and picked up the gun, running through the hallway, shouting and pointing the gun at the ceiling, getting the foreigners to head back. I stumbled back to Tony with my eyes watering. Tony looked at me, his mask cracked when he saw the tears in my eyes.

"The plan." I muttered, watching the screen as the energy began to gather. I looked to Tony. "Okay, we…we have to stick to the rest of the plan." I muttered, swiping my arm over my eyes, ridding myself of the tears that threatened to boil over my lashes. I checked everything on Tony's suit, which he was currently imprisoned in. I sighed and moved back, then freezing again when the shots suddenly stopped. I shuddered as I practically felt the pain Yinsen must be going through right now.

Then I watched as the progress bar filled, shooting forward. I met Tony's eyes and he nodded, his own eyes widening. I dived behind a table, scooting under it, into the holders, where you could store things. I covered myself with all of the spare parts that we hadn't used. I didn't want to be seen, and this was the best we could do. I waited, but it didn't take long for the people to come in, slowing down when there was no visible sign of us. I had the shining blue of my arc reactor covered with my/Tony's leather jacket. The room had darkened to no lights right when the progress bar hit full.

I waited for the people to walk farther in the room. I quieted my breathes, which had been heavy with adrenaline. I watched the shadows that moved in the dark room. The only thing that shined was Tony's arc reactor which you couldn't see unless you walked in front of it.

I flinched when suddenly a body, one of the shadows went flying, shooting into the air as he was thrown across the room by Tony. The other ones fired off in the general direction of Tony and I curled farther in on myself, praying that none of the stray bullets hit me. They stopped for a minute, nothing happened and all of their bullets had garnered no reaction from what was to them an empty room. I waited until I heard the screams, and the whir of Tony's large machine moving. There were stomps that shook the very ground of the cave as the large, bulky looking armor walked, resembling the look of a human, but not, at the same time.

I tumbled out from behind the stuff, getting out from under the table. Tony was going down the hallway, clearing the way so that I could get to the parking lot like thing I had seen earlier. I fumbled for one of the people's guns, careful not to see their faces, or touch their bodies. I held the machine gun, noticing vaguely again that they were Stark & Vinci merchandise. I gripped it tighter and stumbled out into the hallway, not regretting leaving the cave. The only thing I regretted was I _knew _that Yinsen wasn't going to make it. That was a sacrifice play and that man, didn't deserve death. I moved my way out through the horror inducing hallways, remembering all the times that I was dragged to and from the torture room.

I nearly screamed when I heard something that I recognized as a missile go off. I abandoned my plan, trying to find Tony. What if he was hurt? Was the armor capable of hitting missiles? I tried to remember the way to the front, while also remembering the way to the parking lot. What I found was Tony, in the armor leaning over a dying Yinsen, with his helmet up. I ran over.

"Yinsen?" I asked, making them both look at me in surprise, more like Tony. Yinsen had been wounded, shot, in his abdomen and he'd already lost too much blood. There was no way that he would live. He was already on his last leg.

"Anna…Anna…" He breathed, and held up his hand, with the little energy he had left. I dropped the gun, taking hold of Yinsen's hand. He was resting on bags of what I believe is wheat and I felt tears again coming to my eyes as Yisnen met my eyes as I clutched his hand. "You are…a good woman. He will see…" Yinsen rasped. I chuckled but it came out more like a sob with the tears escaping my eyes.

"Yinsen, thank you so much." I told him. Tony had turned away, hiding his own tears. It had finally happened, I had cried in front of Tony. Something that I had never wanted to do. This warranted tears though, the passing of a man who was one of the only ones who deserved to live.

"Come on," Tony desperately said. "You've got to see your family. Doesn't he Anna?" Tony grasped at straws. I looked away from Tony's desperate eyes, wiping the tears from my own as best as I could.

"My family…is dead." Yinsen said, squeezing my hand lightly. It reminded me that we were in reverse positions. When we first met, I was the one dying, and Yinsen the one watching. At least I had lived. Yinsen would not. "I am going to see them now, Stark." He told Tony, placing one of his hands on his arm. "It's okay," Yisne said to both me and Tony. "I want this…I want this…" He repeated, taking shorter and heavier breaths. Tony was silent for a moment.

"Thank you for saving me." He told Yinsen. Three months ago, I would have been surprised at this. Now, it still surprised me, but not really. Yinsen and Tony had formed the same bond that Yinsen and I had.

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your lives." Yinsen said, and I could feel the life leaving him. I sobbed, putting my free hand over my mouth. How could such a man die like this, and I lived? I didn't know how to deal with this. I was so angry at the world, but I know a perfect way to get the anger out. I would take out all of these bastards, with Tony of course. I wasn't going to waste my life. Somehow I was going to help people. Some way.

I watched with Tony as the life painfully left Yinsen. I waited a moment, staring at the doctor who had saved my life, and then I looked at Tony. He looked sad, but mostly I saw rage on his face.

"The plan." I muttered, releasing Yinsen's hand, which was loosing warmth already. I took deep breaths, picking up the gun I'd dropped and making sure the thing actually had some bullets, anything not to see the man that I'd sort of seen as an uncle figure, one of the few people who cared. I looked up from the gun and met Tony's angry eyes. He nodded and I nodded back. We had to continue. It would all be for nothing if Tony and I didn't get out. I took off running back to the parking lot like structure. I heard, and felt the pounds of Tony walking to make his way out of the place to destroy all of our weapons and then use the make shift rockets on the bottom of his feet to shoot off into the air as they exploded. I was supposed to be gone by then.

I found the place, bypassing my room on the way. It took my eyes a second to adjust but I snuck through the bright hole anyway, just in case there were people still here. There wasn't. They were all focused on Tony. I don't know where everybody had assumed that I was, but here there was only one group of people. I lifted the gun and took a calming breath. I didn't have long to get to one of the old cars. Once Tony blew up the explosives, which were many, everything in an 8 mile radius _at least _would blow sky high. I snuck around everything I could find. There were some spare things, like piles of tires, broken guns, and even a few barrels, one of which the group was around with a fire in it.

It wasn't cold but I assumed it would be even colder out here then it was in the cave at night. I got behind a few tires and raised the gun, holding my breath and aiming. I needed to take these people out. If they caught me while I was hotwiring the car, it would be bad but it would be even worse if I had to engage in a high speed chase across the desert because the caught me driving away. I felt none of the horror of taking a life, as I shot into the group. I didn't aim for their hearts, merely their legs. I knew that it was unlikely that they'd live this long outside of civilization and with the explosion but in my eyes they would deserve what they got. How many lives have these people taken? How many families have they killed? How many women have gone mad because of them?

All I felt when I shot the terrorist was the recoil of the machine gun against my shoulder. I ran from my hiding space, towards the closest truck, a blue truck with a machine gun on the back that had been badly bolded down. Lucky for me, as I hadn't thought of how to open the door if it hadn't already been open, the door was unlocked. First I checked for keys, which it didn't have, and then I kicked out the plastic cover from the wires. I had to bite the wires off, and tie them together, working fast. When the truck rumbled to life I jumped up, putting the car into drive and smashing the pedal down.

It was harder then I thought to drive over the sand. No one was noticing me, more worried about Tony. I watched in the mirrors on the side of the car, the other one being suspiciously missing. When I saw the explosion, I was maybe a mile away. Cautiously, worryingly I watched for what would be Tony, ignoring the heat of being so close to the explosion.

I didn't see anything out of the mess for a few long moments, and then one of the lines of smoke beamed away from the rest, heading slightly to the west of me. I slammed on the break, turning the car around so that I could follow it, driving over the sand dunes at a dangerous speed as I saw the armor crashing.

What if Tony didn't make it? What if it crashed and he didn't make it? I kept my foot fast on the gas pedal. The truck couldn't go any faster but I saw the place where Tony landed, not far from me. The truck was running out of gas fast, which was not a surprise seeing how old it was now. I kept pushing it as far as I could, just trying to get to Tony, to see if my best friend was all right.

When I came upon the crash scene I slammed on the breaks, causing the truck to skid to a stop and the engine to falter. I didn't even bother with it, logically already knowing that it was done for. I stumbled out of the truck and nearly fell onto the sand. I ran to where a few feet away Tony was, with the armor around him. I dropped to my knees and to my absolute joy, Tony's eyes were open and I could see he was alright, or the part of him that was above ground. The rest of him was below ground, in the sand.

"How was the flight?" I asked him, teasing. He smiled, tiredly at me.

**Wow, finally out huh? Yeah. So I don't know if I told you but the poll is up on my profile, so you should go vote. I'm on a role right now and have written three consecutive chapters to the sequel of this story. I wanted to get this chapter out yesterday, in response to the lovely and heart-warming, and day making, reviews ( You know who you people are. I think I've made my appreciation noticed) but I ended up having to go to a Drama Banquet, and then it got rescheduled and I didn't feel like uploading.**

**So in a nutshell, it's my fault, I apologize. At least I wrote some on the sequel. I'm really inspired right now but I have to go and I can't watch the movie on my laptop. It sucks.**

**I can't wait for your reactions!**


	8. For I compose

"Wobbly." Tony answered, slinging off the armor on his arms. I began to help him get the pieces off. We didn't need them, and now that we were here in the desert they would only make us hotter in the end. "But not bad." Tony muttered when we had him free of all the pieces of the armor. I sighed and stood up, contemplating. How was I going to get him out? Maybe he had lost some weight but there was no way that I could possibly do anything with the amount of weight I had on me now, countered by the amount of muscle that I still have left on my body.

"Can you get out?" I asked him, curious. He looked up at me and I noticed the red marks, and the abrasions on his chest, where the metal had cut into him and the leather. I watched him try and wiggle out of the ground and snorted at the funny picture. True, the blood was worrying, and the fact he was stuck in the ground and we weren't that far away from the destroyed campsite wasn't funny. I just wanted to laugh. We were finally free!

I reached down and he took my arms, pouting. I took a deep breath and heaved him up with all of my strength. I groaned pitifully as his weight pulled on my arms, which in turn pulled on my arc reactor which was not in a good state. I imagine the wires were not doing a good job, seeing as we'd had to strip them of their coverings to twist the iron and copper together. They were probably making contact with the wall of the tunnel that we'd placed in our chests.

"Jesus, Tony." I groaned. He was halfway out of the hole so I let him go to climb out himself. I watched him climb out, while I rubbed the soreness out of my arms. The blood didn't look as worrying here. He didn't seem to have anything wrong with his lower half, and the cuts on his face and neck didn't look deep enough to do more then draw a little blood. I tugged the corner of my leather jacket down and kneeled to where Tony laid on the sand taking a breath.

"What?" Tony muttered, looking at my hands as I brought them closer to his handsome face. I just smiled and started wiping the blood away from his face, to make sure they truly were only cuts and not deep abrasions.

"I'm just doctoring you up. It wouldn't do to get this far and have to go back would it?" I explained to him. Yes they were only cuts on his pale skin. That would change though, the paleness. Tony always could tan in an instant. I put my hands on my knees, pushing myself up with my bones cracking against each other as I stood. I grimaced and looked down at Tony who was also getting up, now that I'd did my best with his cuts.

Together Tony and I looked back at the high flames from where we'd come, to where the explosion had been, to where we'd been captive for three months. It was freeing to know I wouldn't be going back to that place. I would never be tortured there again, and never have to sit in that room again. I shuttered and looked away from the flames and instead towards the man that stood beside me. Yinsen…he was a great man, but I think his last words were wasted. I sighed and looked away from Tony, beaten and cradling his arm, no doubt it was cracked.

Instead I looked on to the way we should head, probably towards the sun. Didn't they say that you should walk towards the sun if you are lost? "Should we go towards the sun?" I asked Tony, looking back to see him staring at me, curiously. "What?" I asked him, curiously. He smiled at me.

"We're out." He stated, his smile growing. I laughed and grinned at him.

"We made it out." I cupped my hands together and squeeze them as my excitement grew. Tony laughed and lurched forward and I squealed as he grabbed me around the waist, lifting me up to swing me around. I clutched his shoulders to keep steady. "Tony!" I shouted, nauseous already. "Tony, put me down!" I said, half-heartedly. He set me on my feet but didn't release me. Instead he tightened his hold and hugged me close to him.

I wrapped my arms fully around his shoulders, asking no questions. I clutched on tight to Tony. I just wanted to revel in the feeling of Tony's warm arms around me as if he was protecting me from the world. When Tony moved away and released me I sighed and looked over myself. I hadn't achieved any major injuries in the escape, which was a surprise. Had I been stuck in that room, my own, I would have attained many injuries, before I even made it to the parking area. I'm not sure I even would have made it that far before Tony would blow up the place.

"We should…" I started, glancing up at Tony. He looked to be analyzing me for injuries as well and I smiled at his uncharacteristic concern. "I'm fine." I told him, brushing a bit of dirt away from one of his cuts. If we weren't found soon, then his cuts would get infected. All I had that could even be considered an injury was a few scraps. "Let's head out. Maybe if we get closer to a town we can get some medical supplies and I can work on your injuries." I told Tony, already moving towards the sun.

Tony didn't say anything, he just continued to follow me. The silence didn't last long though before Tony started talking again, but about what we would change when we had made it back. "Anna," He grabbed my attention. We must have walked five miles already in silence. It must have been morning when we escaped though because now it was about midday, and we were just walking as straight as we could, to find the nearest city or something that wasn't desert.

"Yeah?" I asked him, looking to the side. He had his brown leather welding jacket tied around his head, protecting his head from the direct rays of the sun. I'm just glad we didn't have to pee on the jackets, like I'd seen in survival shows. I don't think I would have been able to keep a straight face if we had to pee on my leather jacket. Plus, I loved this jacket to much with its worn and stained leather to pee on it and not to mention that's a disgusting alternative.

"When we get back we should find out who was selling them the weapons." Tony stated, needlessly. I absentmindedly ran my fingers through my short hair. It was actually weird to walk without the comfortable weight of my long hair, and yet my head was cooler then it used to be. I couldn't decide if I liked my short hair, or missed my long hair.

"Do you have any idea who it was?" I asked then rolled my eyes. "Of course you don't. You just piss people off and expect it to go over with no side effects." I told him, stumbling over another sand dune. I was really getting tired of seeing sand. Tony took a moment to look insulted, putting both of his hands over his chest in fake offence. I slapped him lightly on the arm and kept walking.

"I'll have you know that I know _exactly _who is mad at me at all times." Tony fake haughtily told me. "But," He got serious. It was a little freaky, but I've got to say that I've seen him serious enough. I miss the Tony who laughed and walked around pissing other people off. I can't even believe that I miss that Tony. Actually I can. At least that Tony was happy with himself. Now, I could see the shadows in Tony's eyes all because he has seen what he has been doing all along, indirectly killing people. It wasn't a magnificent realization for me either, when I had realized it and I don't feel sorry for him. Tony had to find out. The only thing that I regret is that he found out like he did. "I don't think we should let it continue." Tony finished.

"Well, no but I don't know who would be selling out merchandise to other people." I told him, scratching the scab of my cut, from where 'Raza' nicked me in my hair. We had been walking a long time and my feet were killing me, along with every other part of my body. "You know," I told him, "As much as I don't want to say it. It has to be someone that we know. Someone who has a high enough level of clearance so that they can access the blueprints." I told him. There were very few people with that high of a clearance, simply because Tony and I already didn't trust many people with our work.

"That only leaves Pepper, Obadiah, and Rhodey..." Tony muttered, saying something that I had already realized. This wasn't just about our company any more. Now it was about trust. Which of our friends had betrayed us? I have no idea. I couldn't honestly tell anyone who it could be. No one had said anything, or did anything that I can remember that would give them away.

**I followed Tony silently to the humvee, even as his phone rang and Obadiah called. How peculiar, Obadiah almost never calls Tony unless there's some kind of emergency at the company. As I half listened I felt my own phone beep. I pulled it out to see Pepper had texted me something. It didn't make any since. 'I'm not sorry but I will miss you.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?**

I stopped walking. Could that be...? I vaguely remember them both acting weird but...Obadiah is a father figure for Tony and...Pepper. Well, Pepper was my friend, and Tony's crush. What could I do? Where they really? No. It's not possible. It must have been someone who finally managed to hack into the system and get the blueprints or someone left their pass codes lying around.

"Anna?" Tony muttered, walking kind of in front of me. There was no way that I could tell Tony about my suspicions. If I was wrong, like I was hoping I was, I don't think that he'd ever forgive me, or them. I should stay silent for now, and wait until I have proof, or don't.

"I'm fine, my feet just hurt." I said, and started moving along, waving off Tony's concerns. "I haven't had this much exercise since before we were kidnapped." I joked, and turned to smile at Tony but he looked worried. I was taken aback by this. "What is it?" I asked him, looking around for the Ten Rings to come up or some kind of danger anywhere. I couldn't see anything but I looked back at Tony and he was standing right in front of me.

"Here, I'll carry you for a little bit." Tony offered, turning around and crouching down. I looked at the back of his head, incredulously.

"Are you insane?" I asked him, moving back. He turned around and glared at me. "I'm not going to do that. You're in way worse shape than I am, and we've got a long way to walk." I told him. He didn't falter.

"Anna, I'm offering to carry you, and I'm fine. All I've got is a few scrapes and bruises." Tony said, motioning again to his back. I hesitated, my eyes flittering to the where we were headed. There was still nothing but sand on the horizon and my feet were already blistering from the lack of water in my body.

Creeping forward I sighed. "Only because you asked." I told him, climbing onto his back, careful not to rest on any parts of him that were tender. Tony took a moment, adjusting me before he heaved up, and I was forced to clutch onto his neck. For a moment we continued on in silence, with him carrying me close to him on his back with my arms around his neck, not against the wounds there.

"This is awkward." I stated, trying to move around. Tony's hands went to my thighs, to steady me and my already red cheeks, from the heat, suddenly flushed more with embarrassment. There had been things to shave with in the cave, but no deodorant. I hoped that I didn't smell bad.

"No, it's not." Tony objected, walking over more dunes.

"Yes, it is." I objected. "I feel like a sack of potatoes. Let me down." I told Tony, wiggling. He grumbled and let go of me. I straightened all of my clothes, still with flushed cheeks. "That was a bad idea in every sense." I said, starting walking again. "I could have broken your back, then where would we be?" I asked him as he pouted behind me. How strange of Tony.

"You don't weigh enough to break an old man's back, much less mine." Tony snorted. I turned to look at him, offended. It was probably true at the moment, with my thin weight. I'd lost a lot more than anticipated. It hadn't helped that because of the lack of food while I was in my room that my appetite was very small, and that my stomach couldn't hold large portions. I figure after a while back in America, known for its obesity, I'll gain back some of the weight.

"I don't know whether I should be offended, or thankful." I remarked airily, stopping on top of another sand dune. "Let's take a break." I told Tony, falling down to my ass on the sand. Tony stepped beside me, doing the same, except sprawling on the ground. For another few moments we basked in the stillness. We couldn't stay long. The nights in the desert are supposed to be very cold and we couldn't make a fire. I didn't want to be out here for long. I think I'd faced enough trials for a little while thank you.

"I was thinking." Tony started. I opened my closed eye to look down at him.

"Yeah, people tend to do that." I remarked and dodged Tony's swat.

"I was thinking," He started again. "That we should shut down the weapons part of the company down." Tony said, sitting up to look cautiously at my face. I stared at him. I hadn't thought of doing that. If he still had been just Stark Industries that would have been a bad idea. Now though with Vinci in the pictures it would save us. I liked the idea. If we stopped making weapons then whoever was selling them to the terrorist would have no weapons to give them.

"I like that thought." I told Tony, running my tongue over my chapped lips. We couldn't live long without water, and it was looking as if we wouldn't be finding any soon. It would suck if we finally escaped, only to die of thirst or starvation. That wouldn't be a very heroic death. It's more likely than us being rescued, but both Tony and I are ignoring that alternative.

"Great." Tony said, scratching at his shoulder. I slapped his hand away from it.

"Don't scratch it, you might infect it." I ordered, even though I'd been only minutes ago scratching the scab on the top of my head. Tony stuck his tongue out and just too counter act him I wiggled my eyebrows. Tony burst out laughing and I chuckled along with him, happy that he was laughing. I hadn't heard his laugh in a long time. I hadn't remembered all the fantastic things about it. I didn't remember the way his chest rumbled or the smile on his face, or how he scrunched up his face adorably.

"I think we should call a press conference when we get back." I stated, getting serious again. "Then we can announce the shutdown. We've got plenty to fall back on anyways." I mentioned. Tony nodded, agreeing.

Sighing I stumbled up to my feet. "All right, we've got to start again." I told Tony and he stuck his hands up in the air. I rolled my eyes but took his hands anyway, to pull him up. Together we started off again, the mountains we'd been captive in were lost in the distance, but the horizon wasn't very close yet either. "You know, that armor...We could make a better version." I told Tony. He glanced at me but I smiled.

"I agree." Tony answered. "We could use something else for the legs, instead of rockets to keep us in the air." My eyebrows rose.

"Us?" I asked him, looking fully at him. He grinned, that 'I can get away with anything I want because you know you love me' look. I smiled right back. It's not like he knew, but he did know that I couldn't help but to cave in to him when he got that look about him.

"Well, it's only fair for you to get armor. You'll be helping to make it, and you've got the arc reactor to. There's no reason that I should get one and you shouldn't." Tony argued his case. I did want armor, I'm not going to lie, it sounded awesome, and I'd have not objected to having my own armor inside either.

"I'm not saying that I don't want my own armor." I pointed out. Tony looked exasperated.

"How do you always manage to make me think I'm in trouble?" He muttered to himself. I laughed as we reached another sand dune.

"It's a gift..." I said but stopped. Something was making a noise. But what? There wasn't anything around here to make a noise but us. I scanned the horizon in front of us. There was nothing I could see. "Do you hear that?" I asked Tony, glancing at him but as I did to my shock, surprise, and eternal joy a military issued helicopter burst onto the scene. I screamed in joy, jumping even though my joints, feet, and legs hurt everywhere. I nearly tackled Tony into a hug, which he completely recuperated, swinging me around.

"We're rescued!" I screamed, releasing Tony to jump around as two helicopters landed. A bunch of people got off the helicopter and Tony fell to kneel in the sand in relief. They ran up to us, having trouble on the sand dunes that we'd been navigating for hours. I realized that I recognized every one of them. Rhodey got there first, but he went to Tony. The others were from the A-Team. There was Rachel, Murdock, Face, Hannibal, and B.A. all of them from a special part of the army. They are very good at what they do, and they are also my old friends.

After the rescue everything was a blur. Nothing seemed to sit still. I remember vaguely getting on the helicopter, and being checked out by people there, but I also remember being checked out at the military base they took us to. They said I was fine, and except for my lack of weight and that the only other threat was the arc reactor, which they didn't know how worked and so didn't know the effect it would have on my body. I hadn't let anyone look at it, as Tony hadn't either. It was going to be a secret, and nobody would get it until I was in the ground.

Maybe I was being a little over dramatic. I wasn't too sure about that though. Now I've seen first-hand what is done with these weapons, and I had already hated them. I can't imagine what would happen if someone ever got a hold of the arc reactors that were in Tony and I's chest. Plus, telling anyone that this little blue light in our chests was keeping us alive, which would only spawn more and more people to kill us.

So far Tony and I hadn't had a moment to ourselves. I'd only spoken two words to him since we'd been rescued, and they'd only been 'Thank you' when he'd helped me up into the airplane. Now here we sat, him on the other side of the airplanes cargo, which was for an entire troop of the army to sit in so we were pretty far away from each other. Rhodes had just announced that we were landing. It was an unnecessary statement of course, seeing as I'd been able to feel the plane descending.

It wouldn't be long before I felt the Malibu, American earth beneath my feet again. I could go home, and sleep on a real bed. I could have real lights, electronics, and even real bathrooms. I was so anxious to get out of this plane, but at the same time something felt crushed. I didn't know what, but it was putting a damper on my excited feelings.

It wasn't the press conference that I knew we were going to call. Tony and I had planned that out already after all. I looked up at the place around me. It was dark in here, they'd given me a pair of sunglasses to wear, saying that my eyes had been damaged by the lack of light that I'd been through. Apparently my eyes had gotten really light green. Within the hour I'd gotten rid of the sunglasses. My eyes may have changed color, and I'm a little more sensitive but I thought the sunglasses were a little unnecessary. If my stunt through the desert with no eye protection hadn't already gotten me used to light again, then I would have gotten a more fashionable pair at the least.

I unbuckled the hundreds of belt loops when the engines started shutting down. And to my groaning discomfort they rolled that wheel chair over for me to sit in. Tony was already complaining loudly in his own wheelchair. I dropped into it, glaring at the smirking Rachel behind me. She was my old friend. She grew up around the streets around my company's original building, and we'd met and gotten along. I got her off the streets, into a good home, and she'd vowed to make it up to me some day. I guess she finally fulfilled that vow.

Rachel pushed me up to sit beside Tony, locking the wheels on it. I sighed and scrubbed the side of my face. Tony looked at me and grinned. Rhodes had gotten us clothing from somewhere and we'd taken a bath at the makeshift hospital they'd had set up at the base camp. I now wore a black muscle shirt, and black slacks, wit the leather jacket that I'd refused to let them incinerate. I'd managed to keep that sucker through this entire experience, and I'm going to keep it throughout my life if I could help it.

Tony however chose to wear a suite, brown shirt and tie pattern, with black simple pinstripe suit with it. Not anything new. I think that's why Tony chose it out of the suites that they'd scrounged up for him out of his personal stock. It was something that Tony would have worn before Afghanistan. Of course now it was loose in places it shouldn't be. I'd need to feed him like mad when we got back. Otherwise he looked almost like new. They'd cleaned up the cuts all over him, and he'd even shaved his beard back into perfection, and trimmed his hair.

I turned to the doors as they opened, letting me catch my first glance of America in three months. It was as cramped and beautiful as I remembered. All that I could see for miles was the air strip and the buildings, and the other planes but that didn't matter, because at least I was no longer seeing the inside of a cave. Letting out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding I raised with Tony, unconsciously, out of the wheel chair. Rachel surged to help me when I wobbled, but it wasn't necessary because Tony's hand was there as soon as I was out of my chair. Together, bracing our shoulders against each other Tony and I walked down from the airplane, making our first steps on American land together.

Now we'd come through, well and truly made it together. We both made it through. As soon as my feet where planted on the pavement of the air strip I released the hard grip I'd had on Tony's hand and raised my eyes from where they'd been fixed on the ground to catch the gurney moving close to see if we needed any more medical attention. What was with them?

"Tony, they brought a gurney." As soon as it was brought to his attention he scowled, this left me sighing. Tony turned to Rhodes without question.

"Are you kidding us with this? Get rid of it, please." Tony told Rhodes and the medical personnel in general. He motioned them off, and put his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the group of people waiting a few feet away from the airplane. I sighed when Pepper, Happy, and many, many agents were waiting. It implored me to look farther out and see the masses of reporters gathered around the exit, where the limousine would exit towards home.

Tony and I stopped, with one of my hands clutching loosely the hand on the arm that he'd thrown around my shoulders.

"You're eyes are red." I announced to Pepper. She stood in a rumpled pinstripe pants suit. Her hair was messy, and everything was so un-Pepper.

**I followed Tony silently to the humvee, even as his phone rang and Obadiah called. How peculiar, Obadiah almost never calls Tony unless there's some kind of emergency at the company. As I half listened I felt my own phone beep. I pulled it out to see Pepper had texted me something. It didn't make any since. 'I'm not sorry but I will miss you.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?**

Again that memory came to mind. What could I do? I just couldn't get it out of my head. Was it really them? I couldn't be sure until I had some evidence, real solid evidence. For all I know she could have been talking about something entirely different and Obadiah could have been just checking in on Tony for once.

Even my brain knew I was bullshiting myself. Coincidences weren't always real, and most of the time in these situations they aren't coincidences at all. But I don't want to believe that Obadiah or Pepper could do that to me, or to Tony.

"A few tears for your long lost bosses?" Tony asked, teasing. I looked at him and felt my heart die a little. He was looking at her like always, with emotions clear in his eyes. So he still loved her. Why had I expected that to change any? I should have expected Tony to fall even more in love with her, after all I fell more in love with him. I ducked out of the conversation and Tony's arm so that I could give a hug to Happy, who'd been patiently waiting.

"Happy, it's so good to see a familiar face." I whispered, my eyes tearing up. Happy just let me hug him for a second but I pulled back, sucking the emotions back in. I couldn't let anything show. What I needed to do was get back into the mindset of myself, and stop being some pansy.

"It's good to see you again to, Anna." Happy told me, grinning. He led me to the waiting black car. Tony and Pepper were already on their way to the car, having had a short conversation as well. To my surprise Tony waited outside the car for me, holding the door open instead of letting Happy do it. I didn't question it, only sliding into the car like I'd never left. As I sat in the beige leather of the car, next to Tony and across from Pepper it all began to come back. I can remember the fake smiles, the fake friends, everything that come with being someone in the spotlight.

I was glad now that I was in the car because just thinking of going back to the old times was enough to make me want to fly away, start a new life. It was stupid, I know but now, after everything I'd been through going back to the fake life that I've had seemed to be the less happy road. I mean what do I have to gain from getting back into my fake life? I glanced at Tony.

The love of my life didn't even love me, so why should I go back? I knew though, that I couldn't not go back. Tony and I had gone through enough. I could not leave him because I would be lost without him. I've followed him around for years. I was practically his shadow by now. What was a shadow without the person? Just a dark spot on the ground is what.

Plus, I had things to look forward to, like the armor, and shutting down the companies weapons. It would _hopefully_ be different now. And who says that I have to deal with fake people anymore? Why couldn't I adopt Tony's way of doing things?

"Where to, ma'am, sir?" Happy asked, looking in the rearview mirror. It brought me back to the present in this car.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper said.

"No," I said at the same time that Tony answered.

"No?" Pepper turned to us while Happy stayed in the same spot, waiting on us to make a decision. "Tony...Anna, please you need to go to the hospital." Pepper pleaded with me, already knowing Tony was too stubborn to give in to her pleading. I didn't give in to her either though. I was so tired of medical people.

"No, is a complete answer." Tony said, not even looking at Pepper.

"The doctor needs to-" Pepper started and I met her eyes.

"We don't _have _to do anything." I told her sternly, fiddling with the edge of the raggedy leather and I looked out of the window, at all of the military people working, running around.

"Anna and I have been in captivity for three months. There are two things I _want _to do." Tony said, stressing the importance. He even looked at Pepper now. I stayed silent, letting him talk. "I want an American cheeseburger..." Tony started and Pepper rolled her eyes as he paused.

"Now that's enough of that." Pepper scoffed turning her body away from Tony.

"It's not what you think." I interjected, making Pepper look at me, only for Tony to finish the statement.

"I want you to call for a press conference." Tony told Pepper.

"Right now, Pepper." I told her, motioning to her pocket, where I knew her trusty black berry was. She always kept it there. "Call every major reporter, and one from every major magazine. Get the army contractors there to. They'll need to know." I ordered, flicking off the people on my fingers. "Make sure Vanity Fair, People, Esquire, and any that I have 'friends' in so that we don't estrange everyone." Pepper fumbled for her phone, writing with a pen on a pad of paper that she had scurried to retrieve.

"And don't forget the FBI, the CIA, and all those jackasses who were standing outside to 'debrief' us. Tell them what is released is all of the information that they are getting." Tony added. Pepper scribbled the names down and started making her own notes.

"Happy, drive. Cheeseburger first." Tony ordered the awaiting, and ever silent, Happy. Happy didn't hesitate, pulling out, going past the hordes of reporters that waited at the exit. The windows of the car were tinted, and they couldn't see us but I could see all of those people with those cameras. It was comforting, being in this situation again. I was born before cameras, raised in cameras, and lived in cameras. There was comfort in a poker face, and I was at ease, even now when I looked pitiful because I knew the situation, and I knew how the media works, what to do and what to say.

I didn't just look outside the windows, I also watch Pepper. She showed no sign of trickery, but of course there was only a few seconds of it before we left. I also watched Tony. He was looking outside for most of the ride, and then grinning and cracking jokes the rest of the ride. I didn't know whether to be suspicious or relieved.

**I actually thought about posting this last night. I'm loving you guys more and more. The more times you review, the more I feel like posting just because you guys react so well. I'm working hard on the sequel this weekend, even though I had planned to be re-reading the Harry Potter series. I guess that can wait for a little bit. I love you guys too much.**

**I hope no ones disappointed by this chapter.**


	9. The Music of the Night

"I still think that the saddest part is that we missed the release of Johnny's new movie." I announced, eating my chicken nuggets. We were driving up into the Stark & Vinci central building, where we had all of the press conferences, to save time. There were rooms in the back for getting ready for press conferences, but we wouldn't need them now.

"Eh, I've never been a fan of Johnny Depp's movies." Tony said, around his mouthful of burger. I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"That's because you're straight. To girls, he's practically sex on legs." I stated, motioning to my own legs, wiggling them around. I'd snuck on some high-top converse. They were old and beaten, and someone else's but I loved them. They'd been a fan gift from someone at the base after I'd signed their helmet as a thank you for letting me have their converse.

"That's gross. I'm so close to throwing up that I'm worried for Ms. Potts' safety." Tony snorted, cramming more of the food in his mouth as the car got closer to the drop off point, being the red velvet carpet they kept for us when we used the building. Don't worry; they roll it up when it rains. I found it funny that even though Tony claimed to be in love with Pepper, they were still on a last name basis. Pepper couldn't use any of that crap about Tony being her boss either, because I was her boss and I call her Pepper all the time.

"Yeah, yeah." I motioned his comment away, eating away at my fries. When the car stopped I gathered up my fries, leaving the empty nugget carrier and the sauce packets in the in-car trashcan. It felt good to have all the luxuries in life, even when others would call it excessive. There were plenty of people waiting for us to get out. Tony got out first, leaving the door open for me. I pouted when I got out and the light hit my eyes. Okay, so I was still a little sensitive, but oh well.

I moved forward, letting Pepper get out and suddenly I was engulfed in the arms of Obadiah which I thought was rather strange. He smelt of expensive old man's perfume, and his pressed grey suit grated against my sensitive skin cells. He pulled back, grinning down at me with sunglasses on his face.

"God, Anna you've lost weight." He rudely remarked, and spun us around to wave at the crowd. I groaned and wiggled away so that I could stuff more fries in my mouth, while also getting away from the oppressive man. God, I really didn't like Obadiah right now. While I had trouble believing that Pepper could have done it, I have to admit that some small part of me really didn't like Obadiah. I can't decide what it is about him that I didn't like but it was always blaring, like a tiny alarm in the back of my head.

I led the way for Tony, Pepper, and Obadiah, following close behind me. I regretted going first when I got pats on the shoulders, welcome backs, and all kinds of things from people I didn't know. I just smiled though; the fake slit my mouth became was normal, comfortable, and unneeded. So instead, taking a split second I smiled for real and took a Tony approach. I gave high fives to people, and grinned at the people that I didn't personally know.

As Tony caught up with me, we made it to the conference room together. The reporters, Agents and everyone that we'd called to come had obediently come. It wasn't a big shock. Before Afghanistan we were celebrities, and now we were so on the map that we could have been the Capital. This all lead to the reporters probably already camping out here. Okay, that was an exaggeration but I assume they had been waiting for the call. After all its not every day two of the hottest celebrities are captured and then found alive.

We were forced to walk through another line of well-wishers, a lot of them that I didn't know, but gave high fives to anyways. Tony moved past me, bumping into me in joke. I watched with the rest of the world as Tony got on the ground tugging another cheeseburger out of his pocket. He motioned for me to come to him and I did only to be tugged down to sit beside him.

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony asked, motioning with his hands for everyone to sit down. I snorted, glancing to where I could see Pepper's fire red hair over the sea of people. She had some man talking to her. I felt like I'd seen him before, but I wasn't really sure. "Why don't you all just sit down...That way I can see...you...and you can see me..." Tony muttered the last bit. My eyebrows rose and I snorted. "Little less formal." He took another hamburger out of his pocket. How many had he eaten already?

I smoothed my hands threw my hair a little. There was nothing I could do with it, and nothing to do something to it with. I watched Obadiah, silently fuming no doubt, sit down as well, having a little more trouble since he was aging now.

"It's good to see you." Tony said to Obadiah and Obadiah returned it cautiously. I decided it would probably best to let Tony handle this. I wasn't that good at public announcements, not liking it at all is more like it. I don't know how he's going to announce it but I guess that it would be better to just let him have at it. "I never got to say goodbye to Dad." Tony stated. It startled me, because Tony hated talking about his parents. He never talked about them unless it was unavoidable. I knew he loved them, even though he came off not.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father." Tony started again, saying it where everyone in this conference room could hear him. "There were questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did." Tony spoke, and I watched him closely, I knew where this was going I just didn't know how we were going to get there per say. "If he was conflicted, if he had any doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." I swallowed a bit and moved closer. I heard the cameras snap and I rolled my eyes.

"We saw young Americans killed," Tony said, placing his hand down on my own, to include me and it made my heart warm and probably my cheeks to flush but I looked to Tony, so the media couldn't see them. They were all enraptured by what Tony had to say about mine and his adventure. "By the very weapons we created to defend them and protect them." I saw Obadiah's eyes move from Tony to Pepper who gave a little nod. They didn't know that I was watching, but my own eyes narrowed, though I looked away so as not to be seen myself. What was that about?

"And I saw, that I had, Anna had, become a part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." Tony seemed like he was disappointed. The question was, in himself or in them.

"Ms. Vinci!" Someone shouted. I turned and squinted, vaguely recognizing who it was, a young reporter who I'd give an interview to when he'd needed it, and so had cut me a few breaks when I needed them.

"Hey, Ben." I said softly and I could now hear the quiet tint it had taken. Where before I believed my voice to come out calm and tranquil, now it was soft from disuse.

"What happened to you two over there?" He questioned and I was a little surprised to see sincerity underneath that inquisitive stare.

"Tony and I, we had our eyes opened." I answered, a little louder. Tony squeezed my hand, before pulling me, supporting me when I stumbled unnoticeably trying to get up. He left one hand on my back and I frowned at the touchy-ness. I don't know what had gotten into him. Was this another farce for the media? Tony never helped me this way, it was always me helping him. Together we stood behind the podium, with its two mikes prepared to catch, and record everything we had to say.

"Anna and I, we came to realize that the company has more to offer then just making things that blow up." Tony was strong, confident and nothing like I felt. I wasn't uncomfortable with the backlash of our decision. We had plenty of products that would make up for the loss in weapons. There had been so many in just the production stage when we left to take over it. "And that is why, effective immediately,-" I put in to show that I agreed with his life changing decision.

"And with my full permission." I stated, so he could continue.

"We are shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark & Vinci International," That was of course the sector of the company that weapons registered under. The reporters were already up out of their seats and screaming for our attention. I flinched a little under the bright lights of the cameras as they went off, my eyes squinting. I should have kept the sunglasses on but I'm a Vinci, and I didn't let any of those signs become noticeable. "Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." I rolled my eyes as Obadiah grabbed Tony by the shoulders, forcing a smile that really shouldn't have been there.

I think everyone within a ten mile radius could tell that it was fake. At least, I knew it was fake, so that's what mattered.

"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspaper's." Obadiah tried to get a handle on the situation, and I moved back so that I wouldn't have to touch him. Something wasn't sitting right in my gut with him, and I'm thinking Pepper is in on it to.

"-What direction it should take, one that Anna and I are comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony finished, being almost pushed by Obadiah out from behind the podium. I followed close behind, and winked when Tony turned around to look for me. This was familiar, me always behind him, supporting him. It was almost as if I was folding back into a mold for myself, but there were rough patches, places that didn't match.

What wasn't familiar, was Tony reaching back and pulling me to him, sweeping his arm around my shoulders and tucking me into his side, the arm that wasn't in the sling hanging their around my shoulders, completely casual, as if Tony did this every day. The silly smile that came to my face would probably be the front of many magazines, talking about the insane CEO's but I didn't much care.

Instead I walked with Tony back to our car, where Happy was waiting to take us where we wanted. He pulled the door open for us and Tony let me go in first, and I followed him, Happy shutting the door. I imagined that Pepper was going to be finding her own way to her house, or the Stark & Vinci offices, so she could work on damage control was most likely. I didn't mind. I used this time, when only Tony could see me to sink into the cushions of the car, putting my feet up, maneuvering so I could even lay down, with Tony dealing with half of me in his lap. He grinned down at me, winking.

"Where to sir?" Happy's voice came from the front.

"Take us to the reactor, for Stark & Vinci." I said. Tony looked at me quizzably. "I'll bet Obadiah is going to want to talk to us, or you, rather. I don't want to do that at home." I explained, scratching lightly at the scab forming right at my hairline. Tony reached out and took my hand away from my scratching and held it. I was surprised but I simply watched him, and he stared down at my hand, before looking up and out the window. For a moment of silence I let him wallow in what I'm guessing were memories of our time in that hell hole.

That was all the time I gave him before I sat up, punching him lightly in the shoulder. He jumped, scowling at me.

"Hey, I might _need _that arm later." Tony whined. I snorted and giggled. "What?"

"Nothing, you just might _need _that arm later." I laughed when he tried to understand the joke I'd made. I didn't know what I was giggling at, only that I'd had to laugh at his face. It had been hilarious, but Tony didn't need to know that. All he needed to know was that I was laughing, and soon with my laugh, Tony was laughing. That made me feel better. Tony should be laughing more, and I because I'm so selfish, I want it to be me that's the reason for his laughter.

"You know," I said, after we calmed down. "We need to work on the arc reactors." I told him, rubbing at mine. "I think the exposed wire is making contact with the socket wall." I told him, my eyebrows furrowing.

"It's probably best if we deal with that first." Tony agreed, and then he tugged my shirt down. I flushed furiously and swatted his hand away. He rolled his eyes in turn. "I just want to check your reactor."

"It's fine for now. You of all people should know better than to just go pulling on women's shirts." I complained, tugging my shirt back up. It was so baggy, the smallest size the base we were at had had. My pants were hanging on, with a belt tied in.

"When I pull on a women's shirt, the women usually doesn't mind." Tony argued, wiggling his eyebrows. A laugh exploded from my chest and I grinned lopsidedly at him.

"You keep telling yourself that Stark." I quipped as the car rolled to a standstill.

"Come on, Anna." Tony pulled me out of the car, nodding to the stoic Happy. I waved at him, following Tony into the arc reactor building. I'm glad that he remembered the password to the building, because I sure didn't.

"How do you remember that, Tony?" I quizzed him, walking so that we both stood by the rails. "You know everyone's going to think we are mad, right?" I asked him, quieter. No one was in here. They hardly were unless it was for repairs. This was such old news, this thing that was currently holding mine and Tony's life in its hands.

"I'm Tony Stark; of course I remember my passwords." Tony bragged. I couldn't help but feel we were back in our teenage years. And then he sobered, looking to the arc reactor in front of us. He leant down on the railing, his elbows meshing into the black, always pristine, piece of Stark & Vinci property. I turned around, leaning my back against the rails. "Yeah, I bet the stocks are going to be gone."

"Pepper and Obadiah are both going to be angry." I told him, fiddling with my jacket's sleeves. Tony looked over to me, eyeing my jacket.

"Do you still have that old thing?" He questioned me. I rolled my eyes.

"Unlike you, Tony, I tend to treasure a few things." I sighed, holding it up to my nose to smell the scent of Afghanistan. "Plus, this coat made it all the way through Afghanistan, and college with us. I think a little leniency can be spared for its shape." I muttered. Tony turned to me, leaning his hip against the railing.

"Do you remember when I gave it to you?" Tony asked me, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, I do." I half-smiled, sarcastically. "You told me that you were going to a party at someone's house and you wanted me to hold on to it." I chuckled when Tony pouted.

"And then my parents died." Tony said, watching my face. I imagine it fell. I did not remember that part. "You tried to give it back to me and I told you to keep it, because you were the-" Tony was cut off, and I almost growled when Obadiah came through the door, interrupting us. Tony was being sentimental. It was so rare that he was sentimental. As soon as he saw Obadiah's face his sentimentality died out.

He had a cigar in his mouth and a disappointed scowl on his lips. He looked to us and I could feel the heat of his displeasure, but it wasn't me that he was aiming it at. Slowly, and cautiously, I moved a little in front of Tony so that I could block him from the brunt of Obadiah's anger.

"Well….that, uh, that went well." Obadiah said, taking his cigar from his mouth to speak, and putting his hands on his waist.

"Did I just paint a target on the back of Anna and I's head?" Tony asked, taking his tie off, preparing for the battle of words that was about to come I bet. I sighed and moved away, jumping to sit on the railing. The metal dug into my skin and I winced. I was defiantly going to have to work on my weight. Looking like a walking skeleton was not on my to do list.

"What about my head?" Obadiah asked, sounding quite a bit self-centered. I don't know if it was my suspicion towards him and Pepper or that I was finally opening my eyes, but I was seeing a great deal of problems with Obadiah. "What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"40 points? At minimum?" I told him, rubbing my face. He puffed out a breath of air.

"That's being optimistic." Obadiah said, moving to stand on the other side of Tony. I frowned at that, it was as if he thought he could get around my defenses and get to Tony. If he planned to take the laughter from Tony, that I'd just gotten back, then he was sadly mistaken.

"Tony, we are weapons manufacturers." Obadiah tried to make him see reason. I stayed where I was, and raised an eyebrow.

"Not _just _weapons manufacturers." I pointed out. "Since Vinci and Stark have joined we've been in more than just weapons. We are also the leading provider for electronics, and medical assistance." I named off. I remembered that at least.

"But weapons manufacturing has been our main selling point from even before Howard and I started Stark, and it was after Vinci joined." Obadiah argued. Tony put his hands up, a little frustrated.

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." Tony said, turning to him, and resting his back against my knee. Obadiah did not give up, even at Tony's reasoning, which I thought should be solid enough. What sane person wants to have to think about all of the people they are killing doing their jobs?

"That's what we _do. _We are iron mongers. We make weapons." Obadiah shut him down.

"But we don't _have _to be." I stressed, not moving from my seat on the railing, but using a hand to keep me steady, and one to gesture with. "We can do better than what we have been. It's Stark & Vinci on the side of the building, and it's our lives that we are forging here, making weapons and killing people." I argued. Obadiah looked ready to spit fire at the reminder that this wasn't his company but he acted as if I had never specified the fact.

"What we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah pointed out in return.

"Not based on what we saw." Tony interjected Obadiah and I's tirade against each other. "We are not doing a good enough _job_. We can do better. We're going to focus on something more productive, the many branches we have all over the world." Tony said, and I hopped down to stand beside him.

"Like what? You want us to start making baby bottles?" Obadiah asked, fuming. I didn't quite get that but I did feel offended.

"I think we should take another look at arc reactor technology." Tony seriously informed Obadiah. I didn't approve of telling Obadiah. He was already power hungry, grasping onto Tony's power as tight as he could.

"Come on." Now Obadiah's smile turned fake. "The arc reactor? That's a publicity stunt." He tried to get us to confess. Someone had defiantly told him about the lights in our chests. None of them knew that it was keeping us alive, but I'd bet they knew something about it, at least enough to tell Obadiah. He even gestured to the glowing blue arc reactor, many square feet wide and nothing compared to the ones in Tony and I's chest. "Come on, we built that to shut the hippies up." Tony could even see that Obadiah was faking it now.

"It works."

"Yeah, as a science project." Obadiah was being far too aggressive on this topic not to know. If he hadn't known, he wouldn't have been so enthusiastic in his denials. Obadiah walked behind Tony, and stood beside me and I wanted to bristle. He was being far too suspicious. Was it true? Was he selling to the other side? "The arc reactor was never cost affective. We knew that when we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end…right?" He finally turned to us. I raised both eyebrows, but Tony was still staring at the arc reactor in front of us.

"Maybe." He mumbled, making a face where Obadiah couldn't see him. Yeah, Tony knew that Obadiah knew.

"Am I right?" Obadiah continued, trying to get someone to confess. "We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Ten years?" Obadiah exaggerated.

"That's what they say." I muttered in answer, and Tony snorted. Obadiah stared at Tony, and Tony stared back, squinting his eyes and groaning.

"Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?" Tony demanded, and Obadiah shifted. I rolled my eyes and stood in our little triangular formation we had going on. No one was outside, besides Happy who was patiently waiting.

"Never mind who told me. Show me?" Obadiah said, and Tony went to undo his shirt, taking off his jacket, but I didn't feel comfortable with Tony showing Obadiah what was keeping him alive so I tucked down the muscles shirt I was wearing, just so he could see the arc reactor, and not my chest, or breasts.

"It's Rhodey or Pepper." Tony argued, and glanced at me, frowning when he saw that I had pulled down my shirt for Obadiah's observation. Obadiah was staring at the arc reactor in wondered neutrality. "Okay, Rhodey." Tony finally decided, moving at my back so one shoulder was behind me, and the other beside me. How odd. I glanced outside so that I could see if anyone new had come to see if anyone was looking. Maybe that was why he was being so protective. There was no one there. Finally Obadiah looked around and then reached over. I tensed as he pulled the shirt back up over the arc reactor.

"Okay." He said.

"Okay?" I didn't understand what that meant.

"It works." Tony seriously told Obadiah. He sighed, and rolled his jaw, putting an arm around both Tony and I.

"Listen to me, Tony, Annabelle." I twitched when he used my first name. "We're a team, do you understand? If we stick together, there is nothing that we _can't _do, like Howard, Roman, and I." I wrinkled my nose at the name of my father, Roman.

"I'm sorry we didn't give you a heads-up, okay?" Tony chuckled, falling into Obadiah's plot but I didn't miss the victorious flash that went through Obadiah's eyes.

"Tony," Obadiah cut Tony off. "You two can't have any more of this ready, fire, aim business." Obadiah tried to get us to listen to him but I was still cautious. He was acting so strange and I didn't know what to make of it now. "You understand me?"

"That was father's line." I whispered, dazed. How many times had he told me that? Millions. Every time I came to him for something he would say that, and then tell me to use my brain when I was making decisions.

"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah said and I felt myself being sucked in and I sighed. What had he really done to earn my suspicion really? Call Tony? "We're going to have to play a whole new ball game now." Obadiah said and I reached up to scratch at my scab again. It was so itchy. Tony's hand reached up subconsciously and he pulled my hand down to my side. "We're going to take a lot of heat. I want you both to lay low? Okay?" Obadiah asked us. Tony grabbed his suit jacket, and pulling me under his arm to walk with him.

Together all three of us walked out.

"I'm going to go and try to work this out, call a board meeting." Obadiah said, clapping me on the shoulder, and doing some kind of man hug with Tony. I watched him get on his Segway and I snickered.

"Why does he have that?" I asked Tony as we got into the car.

"He's old, he can't walk like he used to." The ever sassy Tony Stark returned, allowing me into the car first. He climbed in after me and I sank into the seats again.

"Take me to my home, Happy." I ordered friendly. He nodded and I shuffled my head onto Tony's shoulder. "I can't wait to bath, and be in a bed that's not rock." I muttered, trying to make Tony's shoulder comfortable.

"With the whole laying low idea, you'll be spending a lot of time with it." Tony joked about my bed. I chuckled.

"Yeah, probably." I licked my lips nervously. "I was thinking about looking into my father's company. I still have owner ship of it, and seniority. They send reports but they're pretty half-hearted, as they think that I don't listen to them." Tony frowned and his arm shuffled.

"Maybe it's a good idea, but don't put too much on yourself." Tony said. "The suites going to be a lot of work, and testing." Tony cautioned me and Tony being the cautioning type was strange.

"Yeah, it's just going to be a side thing. I was thinking of hiring one of the agents there to get me back in shape, without having to gain fat first." I mused, and I squealed when Tony poked my ribs which were jutting out. "Hey!"

"You _need _to gain some weight. Look, you could be Tyra Banks." He teased and I scowled at him. He knew that Banks and I didn't get along. She thought skinny people were the thing. I understood that it was up to the person and what they believed, skinny or not.

"Shut up, Tony." I muttered, poking his cheek. "You don't see me calling you names."

"That's because I'm Tony Stark." He told me, confident.

"Yeah, and I'm Anna Vinci." I said back. "That has nothing to do with it."

"It has everything to do with it." Tony suddenly became serious. I startled, looking up so I could see his expression. He was serious, and his eyes caught mine. "You know, I wouldn't have made it through there without you." He said, even sweeping his hand through my short hair. I bite my lip and smiled at him.

"Nah, you'd have made it without me, just more damaged. Me on the other hand, I would have never made it." I grinned. Just thinking about being in there made me shiver.

"That's-"

"True." I said, "You gave a reason to want to stay alive. If you'd been in New York…I don't know. I probably wouldn't have focused on keeping myself alive so…intensly because you would have been safe." I watched the streets go by. We weren't far from my house, or at least the drive way. I didn't want to make this kind of admittance, but it was the truth. The only thing that I had keeping me together was knowing that I had to stay to help Tony get out, and myself. Maybe I just have a lack of self-preservation.

"I knew I was bad-ass, but that just took it to a whole new level." Tony was so cocky about it, but unlike anyone else, even when he also looked out of the window, I could see the shine to his eyes, and the slight tilt to his smirk that made it more of a smile. In turn I smiled as Happy pulled up to the gate of my house, automatically being let in to my driveway.

"Yeah, but I was pretty good to. I managed." I grinned at him, winking as the lights came on, being unused for some time. They still looked magnificent. I sighed as Happy pulled up and parked so that I could get out. He got out himself, to open the door for me. I got up, prepared to remove myself but then Tony's hand caught my arm and I sat down to turn back to him. "What is it, Tony?"

He stared at me and I was once again captured in his soul sucking eyes and my breath shortened as he stayed staring at me, and then broke into a grin. "Good night." He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around me. I sucked in a breath before wrapping my tiny arms around his figure to. With his around my shoulders and back, and mine around his waist, in his jacket that he had put back on, I felt so warm and loved. I couldn't explain it but Tony always warmed me up. I took a deep breath and smiled. He didn't smell like his cologne. Tony smelt like fresh Tony. There was no way to explain it, it was just something that smelt wonderful and could probably be made into a drug it was so addicting.

His skin itself was so warm, where I had my face tucked into his neck, and I was so cold that I didn't want to leave his hug but he pulled back, grinning and I dropped my arms, and prayed that my face wasn't showing the love, at least in a way that he would know about my feelings.

"Good night, Tony." I remarked, getting out of the car. I walked to the ends of my steps and turned to wave both Happy and Tony away. Once they were out of my sight I turned back to my large house. It was so big and…lonely. Being in such small quarters it might take me awhile to become used to large surrounding. Slowly I walked up the stairs, staring around, and holding on to the banister. I couldn't see into my garage, but I knew my Lamborghini lied inside it.

As I turned my head I noticed the pool. It was lacking in water, having been gone so long Jarvis would have turned it off by now. I walked past and into my front hall and I silently took it all in. Jarvis would have had Dummy 2 and Cyclops, my robots, cleaning up the house every fifth day that I was gone. Obviously the A.I. knew that I was coming home, probably from the news reports, and had prepared for it accordingly.

"Welcome home, Miss Vinci." Jarvis said. "You are late." He said, his voice sounding reproachful. That had been my little adjustment, an attitude. I smiled half-heartedly, dropping my leather jacket into a basket.

"Yeah, I would be. Throw that in the wash and get it cleaned. I want it in express." I told him, picking up the freshest copy of People magazine. On the front of it was 'Special Issue' and it showed a life time line of Tony and I, and then pictures of when Tony and I came to the press conference. I threw it in the trash, heading into the kitchen.

"Of course, Miss Vinci."

"Do we have any food in the refrigerator?" I asked him, moving to open it myself. Inside it was empty and Jarvis didn't answer my rhetorical question. I closed it, frowning. It probably wouldn't be good for me to eat anything right now anyways, but I was hungry. I moved to the cabinets, pulling out the first thing I found, a box of mac and cheese.

Putting on a pot of water I moved to my room, giving instructions for Jarvis to inform me when the water was boiling. He returned it by moving a holographic screen on to the wall of my bedroom when I entered it. I moved to the window it was on, and sighed.

"You have 5,763 new e-mail, text, and voice mails. How should I categorize?" He asked me. I stared at the open messages, rubbing my face.

"Put the ones received about work into a folder, then dump anything that wasn't from Tony, Pepper, or Rhodey." I told them, and then stopped. "Keep any that arrived from Shield. How many does that leave?" I asked. If I snubbed anyone I think they'll understand this once.

"15, madam." He answered. I rubbed my shoulders and sighed. The blue of the arc reactor was so pronounced in the dull lighting that Jarvis had turned on when I'd entered the room.

"Dump them if they are related to anything that was delivered earlier than a week ago." I said. Anything earlier would have already been fixed, and probably forgotten about. Jarvis did as I asked and I smiled as the message screen disappeared and I was left with a view of the coast line.

"I'm detecting the presence of electromagnetic energy in the house." Jarvis warned me. I blinked, looking down at the reactor.

"Yeah, probably." I smiled half-heartedly. "Boot up the scanner Jarvis, and rescan me. I should have the electromagnetic energy in my chest. Fit it into my profile and catalog it in a new secret file. I want you to encrypt it so much that even Tony can't receive it." I ordered, taking off my shirt, sighing as now I could feel the cooling of my skin via artificial air. It had been so long since I had conditioned air. I didn't know if I was happy or not.

"Scanning now." Jarvis' voice warned me a few seconds before red beams of light came out, slowly going down my body stopping at some points and going back over. It was almost as if he was in disbelief. It was hard to believe that someone can live with this kind of thing in their chest. I would have to believe it of course, because it's the only thing keeping me alive.

"Scanning complete. It would seem a new technology has been placed in your abdomen." Jarvis told me, popping up pictures on the wall of the scan of my body. Some were thermal, others only showing my veins, and another my bones. One showed the arc reactor inside and out and inside my chest. I clicked on it, sighing as I turned it up and around.

"Yeah. It's a miniaturized arc reactor. It's going to be there a while." I smirked, moving to drop my pants, going to the closet in the corner of my room. "Add it to my saved scanning. It's a part of me now Jarvis." I scratched again at my scab. It was really irritating to my scalp. Sighing I looked through my clothes, trying to find my pajamas. I keep them in the back don't I?

"Shall I add it to the aforementioned file?" Jarvis asked, using the glass to show me the new place file that he had accomplished. I used my finger, running it over the files, changing a few things before dropping the scans where they should go. "The water is now boiling in kitchen one." I nodded absentmindedly as I looked over the scan of my lungs and the figures of how the arc reactor worked. Jarvis was very good. Being a combination of Tony and I's mind sometimes he thinks farther then we do, or I like to think he reads our minds.

"Right." I muttered, looking through the shelves until I found a shirt that wasn't meant to go out into the public's eyes and a pair of MIT sweatpants that Tony gave me. Finally something comfortable to wear.

Going back to the kitchen I poured in the shells, and waited for my food to be ready. When it was I made my way to the beige T.V. room that was nestled off to the side of the house. I turned it on, and started flipping through the channels. Nothing I could do was relaxing me. I felt so out of sorts. I ate my mac and cheese anyways, not bothering to do anything important, instead settling in to watch an old show called Drake and Josh that I remembered from when I was really little. I laughed a lot, and finished my meal but right when I was about to turn the channel to Van Helsing I sighed and put it down.

Who was I kidding? I couldn't bear to be alone. I didn't even want to watch the T.V. right now, much less go to bed. Going to bed alone….It's been three months since I've slept in my big bed all by myself. I didn't want to do it again.

**Exhausted I slumped on to the hard as rock mattress that they'd provided. I've been thirty-six hours without sleep and I couldn't help but be thankful that Yinsen had finally told me to sleep. I wasn't aware of most of my surroundings now but I let the cool air of the cave, the only way we could tell when it was night, flow through my lungs. It felt precious here but I was cold and the threadbare blanket was unhelpful.**

**I breathed in, still in that level of sleep where you're half aware of what is going on but not really capable of response. This was why, when rough and strong arms came around my middle, and a body pressed against my back I did not move. Panicking was not in the agenda ether, as I could feel Tony's arc reactor pressing between my shoulder blades. It was strangely comforting to feel it there, to know he was guarding me in my sleep, my vulnerable moment.**

I turned off the T.V. sighing.

**I just realized, as I was working on the sequel that it isn't going to be that long, like a few chapters. I'm almost to the end and it hasn't even broken the double digits yet. I'm very proud of it anyways. Even if all of the stuff happens within like a week. So, this is my apology ahead of time. I'm posting twice in one day. I hope you don't mind. **

**I was actually wanting to propose an idea, that was only half formed and probably not going to happen.**

**I thought it would be cool, if I made an OC for every movie, and just combined them all when I was done to make an Avengers movie with all of them in it. It was just a thought. It had things going against it, but could you picture it? Eh. **

**Happy Weekend! I'm hoping I'll actually finish the sequel. After the sequel I'm going to work on maybe making my Thor one, or something. No one's really voted on the Poll so I don't know yet. I still haven't written a Harry Potter story one but there are so many already out there….**

**Thank you for the reviews. Sorry if I don't reply, it's late here and I'm sleepy so I'm going to go to sleep. I might remember in the morning, but knowing me I wouldn't count on it or anything!**

**Bye!**


	10. Slowly, Gently, Night Unfurls

"Jarvis, has Tony gone to bed yet?" I asked, tentative. I don't think my voice has ever been so quiet, and my voice has been quiet a great deal of my life.

"Yes, madam. His body went into hibernation sequence exactly fifteen minutes ago." Jarvis reported. I quietly patted over to my door, dipping my feet into a pair of shabby tennis shoes and taking my keys. "Shall I awaken Mr. Stark?"

"No, Jarvis, just open the doors to Stark mansion when I get there." I told him, rushing outside, clutching my keys, in a hurry so I wouldn't change my mind. And it was a good idea to because when I stepped up to the mansion, as beautiful as I remembered it, the door opened to show a dark hallway and Tony nowhere in sight. I crept in cautiously, biting my lips as I slipped my shoes off. Tony usually slept in the main bedroom, where he could see out over the ocean, and yet he could go out into the hallway and into the living room to the workshop from there.

When I reached the bedroom the door was closed and I really considered turning around, but I wouldn't be able to sleep without his arms around me. I mean, that's okay isn't it? We would do this when I was little all the time, or when we were little. I opened the door quietly and made sure to guide it with my hands so I didn't wake Tony. I could just barely see him. My sweater covered up my own arc reactor's shine well, but Tony must not have put a shirt on because it was shining over the window-wall. I tiptoed over to him, but he was facing the wall and I had to move farther over so that I could see if he was awake now.

He looked so peaceful. He was just facing the wall, and his legs were straight out but one of his arms were across the pillow opposite of him, and his other one was lightly held over his reactor. I flushed as I saw his peaceful face, finally getting some rest. I shouldn't be here. He needed his rest and I didn't want to interrupt his sleep. How long had it been since he had slept? I was so selfish to think that-

"Anna?" Tony's gruff voice interrupted my thoughts and I jumped as his bleary brown eyes found my own green ones. I smiled sheepishly, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks and I shuffled in my spot. He looked at me for a moment before he pulled back his covers, showing me his sweat pants, and that sweet line of hair that made a trail to heaven. I gulped and moved forward, taking the invitation and moved myself into his embrace. I put my face to his chest, right above the arc reactor and curled my arms up so that I could stick them to his toned, but scared chest. My legs were wrapped with Tony's as he placed one arm around me, flattening his back against the bed so I could be wrapped in his arms.

My cheeks were still flushed as I drifted slowly to sleep, enjoying the warmth and security that radiated off of Tony. His minty breath on my cheek and the coiled power held in his arms as they tightened around me, the feel of his legs entangled in mine as if we did this every night.

The morning was clear when I woke up, the sun was being shaded by Jarvis' automatic settings. I'd rolled over some time during the night and as I began to arrive back into the land of the living I yawned, realizing that I was _not _in my bed. I flushed as an arm was placed around me. I didn't have to conjure up what happened last night. I'm in Tony's bed. Well, at least one of my dreams has finally come true.

Slowly I turned over to cautiously eye Tony. My heart melted in response. Tony's sleeping face was almost as gorgeous as his waking face. All the lines that Howard, Pepper, Obadiah, Rhodey, the company, his partying years, and everything had put on his young face disappear when he's asleep and for once he looks so innocent, as if nothing can bring him down because he's a little slice of Eden.

His arm was thrown hap hazardously around my waist, keeping my back to his chest and the other was laid out in front of me. Our legs were still together, one of his between mine and I flushed when I realized that I had been curled to fit in to the grove of Tony's chest. The pressure of the arc reactor so familiar to my skin. Tony was fast asleep, which was abnormal seeing as he was usually up and in the workshop around the time I awaken to work out. I guess Afghanistan really messed up our time clocks.

Slowly, so as not to awaken Tony I tried to slip out of his grasp, so that maybe I could go home and get some different clothes. My attempt was for not when instead of Tony's grip loosening, his grip tightened and he muttered into my shoulder, tucking his face into the grove between my shoulder and neck.

I think I just went into cardiac arrest, despite the arc reactor. Tony's grip shuffled for a moment before I felt, _felt, _his eyebrow furrow and then his head poked up. I grinned at his sleepy expression, but it turned alert when he glanced from the outside view to my face.

"Morning, Anna." Tony greeted. I loved how his voice was so gruff when he woke up, like sleep was still calling to him. I wanted nothing more to close the small gap between our faces and press my lips to his.

"Good Morning, Tony." I answered. "Can I get up?" I teased, glancing at his arm around my waist. He rolled his eyes and released me, unfortunately but I needed to use the restroom, and get up.

"Sure, sure." Tony muttered, digging his head into the pillow when I rose up and started towards the door to the hallway. "Where are you going?" He called in a whiny voice. I snorted even as my flushed cheeks got even hotter. Did he want me to stay with him? I wanted to stay with him but I didn't know if my heart could take it.

_He isn't yours._

"I'm going home, jeez, Tony I don't have any clothes here." I complained, turning around in the doorway, resting my back on it. I laughed when he sat up and his hair was almost flat on one side, but going everywhere on the other.

"You look fine in those clothes. We should work on the suit anyways." Tony fabricated. Silently I looked him over. Why did he want me to stay? I'm a little confused as to Tony's sudden attachment to me but I shrugged it off. Tony and I had just got out of a life threatening situation; I guess he would be attached to me for that. I just wish it was for me being me, but I've long since realized that Tony wouldn't love me, at least not the way I wanted to. I suppose he probably loved me the way a best friend would love another best friend.

"All right, I'll stay here, but I'm not going out in these clothes." I warned, moving out of the door, making a pit stop at the bathroom before heading to the kitchen. When I arrived Jarvis already had a cup of my favorite tea waiting there.

"Mr. Stark wished to inform you that he has taken residence in the workshop and would like for you to join him." Jarvis told me and then paused. "Ms. Potts has arrived. Should I let her in?" I sipped my tea, sighing in bliss.

"Yes, tell her that Tony and I are engaged in something important downstairs and are not to be disturbed." I told Jarvis, taking a cup of still hot coffee downstairs for Tony. If I'm guessing right he'll have already drunk his first cup by the time I had brushed my teeth, with a borrowed brush, and will be wanting another. And true, when I arrived downstairs he was already started on the hover table, uploading the suit's diagram to the hologram.

I walked over, sitting the cup down and picking up his empty one. I put it into the sink in the corner and took a moment to bask in the feeling of being back in the lab, where I could work better than in the caves. How much could I possibly miss this life? I snuck back over to Tony, holding my tea in front of me. I warmed my palms with it, sighing as I sat down on a rolling chair.

"Pepper's upstairs." I informed Tony as he switched the hologram over to the arc reactor presentation. I reached out and took the wires in the base, spreading out the diagram so that I could switch them out. "Jarvis, make note to coat the wires around them inside the arc reactor instead of outside." I said.

"Why is she upstairs?" Tony asked, looking at me and then at the reactor, fixing what was made in a cave and making it better. Instead of spare parts it would have its own parts.

"I think she's trying to contain the situation we've made, and thought it would be better that she was here in case we wanted to say something." I told him, glancing over the hologram. "If we connect the wire directly to the base then we'll be able to run the suit without actually having to connect the reactor to the suit by wires. We can use suction to connect them." I told him. He nodded, putting it up.

"I've started Jarvis on the parts already and I have all of the necessary things here." Tony told me, eyeing the reactor. "As long as we get that wire off of the socket wall we should be fine." Tony said, looking for my conformation. I grinned at him, still kind of stuck in content laziness.

"So. Let's get to work on your suit." I told him, shuffling the files on the edge of the table, swiping the files over to the one he had open earlier. "First of all we need to work on what weapons we want in it because that fire will not work." I told him.

"Agreed, but they have to be compact because I'm not going to walk around with that much weight. It was hard to balance out and to move in." Tony told me, taking a long pull from his coffee.

"Okay, we can make it out of an alloy then, so it's light enough to move in." I nodded but Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "What?" I asked him, raising my own eyebrows.

"I think we could use just a basic steel to make it light weight." Tony argued. It took us twenty minutes for us to decide what to do and I'm still not sure about it. There were a lot of choices to make when making this. We would have to be sure about it because if we get up into the sky and we can't fly or something happens, we'll die. I don't particularly want Tony to die. We were deep into discussion about possibly finding something different to use then palladium to stabilize the arc reactor when I finished my cup. Tony immediately grabbed the cup and stood up.

"I'm going to get some more coffee anyways." Tony muttered, going out the door. I rolled my eyes, going back to the hologram. Frowning at it I opened a new folder up, hesitating. First I made the shell that Tony had and tried to fit myself into it. I had to proportion it correctly. When Tony came back down stairs he seemed annoyed.

"What is it?" I questioned, taking my drink from his hand and sipping it.

"Pepper has to talk to you." Tony muttered, grimacing as he started working on my outline, fixing things that I'd messed up. "Says it's important."

"All right, and why are you mad?" I asked him, questioning. He started pouting at me, frowning.

"We're supposed to be bonding…" He whined. "Not working on the company."

"Well, you've had a lot of alone time with me, Tony." I teased him, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "Why don't you just brand me and stick me with the rest of the sheep." I commented, moving out of the lab and jogging up the stairs. I was hungry anyways.

"Hey, Anna." Pepper greeted as I came into the room. I was distracted from her as I saw the T.V. something telling of how Stark & Vinci was a sinking ship, telling all of the let downs that were going to happen because of what we did. I didn't see what the big deal was really. Stark & Vinci had more promise than just working out weapons deals. We had plenty to work with.

"What's up, Pepper?" I asked, raising my eyebrow when she handed me the phone.

"They want to talk to you about the annual Maria Stark Foundation celebration. It's been pretty underfunded without you and they want you to work it out, and to decorate." She told me. I took the phone, going into the kitchen with it on my shoulder.

"Hello?" I questioned.

"Good noon." The jolly voice of Stan Martinez greeted me. He was always the one I went to when I was throwing any kind of celebration. Everybody wanted to work with him. He went to school with me, and he was five years older than me, but oh well. He is one of the very few people who hadn't looked at me in distain. He hadn't hung out with me, but he'd liked me well enough. "It's so good to find out that you escaped fine and dandy."

"Thanks Stan." I grinned, picking out a pot for water to boil in for some soup, managing to pick up the phone that I'd been balancing between my shoulder and my head. I balanced myself on the island with my back, concentrating on the phone call for now. "I heard you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes, what were your plans for the Maria Stark Ball? It's happening in a couple of weeks' time and I've done all I can by myself. I had planned to wait for three days because that was how long it would take. It will take place in the Vinci Villa on main street." He instructed and I smirked at the phone as he listed off all the kinds of things he was telling me about it.

"Okay, okay." I told him, slowing him down as he went on about the drapery and from what agency he had hired the handlers. "Fax the information over to me. I've actually got some time and I'll look it over, and change anything I don't like, but Stan you know I always love what you have planned out." I chuckled and half smiled.

"I know. I just like to make sure you like it." He confessed. "I'll fax it to your house."

"Um, Tony's house actually." I told him, pouring the ready soup into a bowl. I'd been up here maybe an hour listening to him go on about this ball. I'd barely paid attention because I knew that he was going to be great. His parties were always wonderful and because he preferred me, my parties were the talk of the town, or so I'm told.

"Oh….Is there something I should know?" Stan teased me. I snorted and started to pour some soup for Tony into a bowl. Lord knows he wouldn't cook anything for himself and if he did it would be a microwaved meal at best. I switched goodbyes with Stan, giving him a promise to tell him what I thought about his plans later.

"No. We're just working. I'm not even sure that we'll be coming to this ball." I told him, moving past Pepper who was watching another stock's show that was bad mouthing our company. I admit that had another company done this then I probably would have sold my stocks, but they'd be pissed when we came back with bigger and better projects and they couldn't claim any money.

As I opened the door to the office my jaw dropped and I almost spilled the bowls of soup I was carrying. Tony, in the time that I'd been gone had managed to turn a side of the lab into what was almost medical like in appearance. He had a chair out that had him leaning back in it and he had a towel in his lap for what I'm guessing would be the discharge in his chest. I grimaced as I stepped closer, setting down both bowls of soup.

I came closer to Tony, peering at his arc reactor. He was shirtless and I would have flushed and admired his chest, again, but I was a little concerned when I saw the purple edge around it.

"Hey, let me see your hands." Tony said. I held them up, and used one to take hold of the arc reactor in his hands.

"Is this one for you?" I asked needlessly. He'd switched into a pair of sweatpants like mine but light blue.

"Yeah, yours is over there." Tony said, pointing to a glass covering on his table. I took a step, outstretching my hand and picking it up.

"Jeez, did you just decide to put it in yourself?" I asked him, referring to the arc reactor he had had in his hands. He snorted.

"Well you were taking a long time…but no." Tony told me, taking my own arc reactor. I pursed my lips and eyed him critically. "Your hands are small enough to reach in and connect it to the base plate."

"What about the magnet? Don't we need to take it out?" I questioned. I'd thought that without it the discharge would just continue to build up.

"I was going to try and build you up to that." Tony said, looking very amused with me. I rolled my eyes and tentatively clicked his arc reactor out of place, pulling it out after taking a break. I hesitated right before doing so, fully.

"I don't know if I should be the one doing this…." I whispered, frowning.

"…I wouldn't want anyone else doing it." Tony told me, lifting my chin so that I was forced to look at him. I frowned. "I don't have anyone else." A smile lifted my lips. My heart felt light and yet it squeezed as Tony admitted this. It wasn't true really, Tony had Pepper and Rhodes but it was nice to know that he thought I was the only one he could trust with this, and I felt the same. Tony was my everything, as horrible as that is. If he were to have died in Afghanistan I don't think I would have ever recovered from losing him.

"Neither do I." I muttered, softly. It was so strange to have Tony be sentimental. Usually it was me being this way and I felt kind of out of sorts, and my cheeks were flushing even more than usual. They already flush when Tony is around as is. I must look like a bright turnip. To distract me from this conversation I slipped a hand in, pulling the old arc reactor out by its wiring. As soon as the main part of the reactor was out I reached in, scrunching up my nose at the feeling.

"Ewwww." I muttered, pulling out the copper.

"It's just discharge." Tony rolled his eyes, leaning his head back. I rolled my eyes as well, secretly eyeing his muscled chest. Even when we'd been in Afghanistan just the day before yesterday, Tony still managed to look ruggedly delicious.

"Yeah, I know but it's _covering _my hand, which is _inside your chest_." I told him, pulling out the copper wire carefully.

"You know it won't hurt you." Tony grinned at me.

"You know I could kill you right now." I threatened, mock glaring at him. Tony stuck his lip out in another pout but I rolled my eyes, sighing before eyeing him. "It's going to hurt for a second." I warned him.

"Yeah, I know Anna." Tony started to sass me so I yanked on it. The machines went off and Tony jumped a little bit. I took that moment to grin and start fitting in the new reactor, taking my time, knowing that he wasn't going to die right now if I got it in quick and ready. When I connected the wires to the base, in the discharge by the way, Tony's reaction was immediate. He took a deep breath, blinking a few times.

"There, that wasn't so bad." I cheeked, stepping back from him, picking my own up from his lap. Its blue shine was almost hypnotizing, and it was brighter than the one in my chest, probably because the energy that had been funneled into it was higher than what we had funneled into the arc reactor we built in a cave. I let him push the reactor into place, clicking it into its casing. I fiddled with my own new arc reactor, making sure it had been correctly assembled but like everything Jarvis did, it was perfect. Tony disconnected the monitors from his chest and jumped down, kind of, from the chair.

"Okay, my hands aren't…small enough to…" Tony motioned to my own chest. I rolled my eyes, climbing onto the chair and frowning. I tugged my sweater over my shoulder but hesitated. Tony's eyes were locked onto my arms and I flushed.

"Do you mind?" I asked him, raising both my eyebrows when he grinned at me.

"No." Tony snorted and looked away. Already anticipating from my scowl that I was going to tell him to turn around he just followed through with it before I said it. Even though I had been in worse problems with him before, I didn't feel right. It had been in severe situations, the last time that I'd stripped my top off in front of him. To do it now, I felt like I'd be crossing one of those lines of friends. So now while Tony was gravitating back to the hologram, I took my shirt off and started clicking off of the arc reactor. As the wires tugged, I flinched and took a deep breath before taking it out, tugging lightly.

I could already feel the shift in my chest so I didn't hesitate to reach inside my chest and find the wire. Unable to see the wire, I flinched and made a noise as the wire hit the sides of my chest cavity. To my surprise, when my vision started blurring, Tony's hands took over, grabbing the wire and yanking out the arc reactor. His hands disappeared for a second and there was a noise but I was focusing on breathing. Already my body had become accustomed to functioning with the arc reactor to support it.

Before I knew it what I could see of a set of welding tongs were inside my chest, yanking out the magnet, and then quickly, and with a little fumbling, replacing the arc reactor. As soon as the wires were clicked into place I sighed in relief. My feelings were coming back. My toes, which had stopped working, were now communicating. I looked up into the calculating eyes of Tony who was trying to guess if I was better and it worked.

"That could have gone better." I noted, sitting up, using a towel to wipe off the discharge on my chest and on my fingers. Then I realized that Tony could see the scars, the ones I'd received so recently.

"We must have forgotten about the mass to…ratio…" Tony muttered to himself halfway through his sentence. I rolled my eyes, keeping the towel over my chest discreetly.

"Don't worry about it for now. It just means we've got more power then I really need in the reactor, it shouldn't affect the way it works." I told him, tugging my shirt on awkwardly over the towel, tugging it out once I had my sweater on over it. "Come on, I brought down some soup." I motioned to the soup and Tony eyed it in hunger. I'd bet he was just fighting it off because he wanted to work. While he was in no way as horrible as I was, he had lost a few pounds in Afghanistan.

"Chicken flavored ramen?" Tony was so amused as he slurped up the noodles. I grinned around my own food.

"It's the best kind." I told him, bumping my shoulder against his and then swallowed. "So, Mister master inventor, what are we going to do about the actual flight?" I asked him, eating a little too fast. It was nice to have any kind of food I want to eat at any time.

"I was thinking that we could contact Rhodes." Tony told me, around his food. I grinned and used a napkin to wipe away a drop of the soup that had landed on the side of my cheek. I didn't like the idea. I was suspicious of both Obadiah and Pepper, but it was still possible that Rhodes was an enemy but the more I thought of it, the Rhodes I knew wouldn't do that. He wouldn't be so disloyal, and especially without at least trying to argue with us over it first. Plus, he's part of the military. He's bent on making sure that we are protected _from _terrorist, so why would he sell our weapons to them.

I was still cautious but…that's probably because I wanted Tony to myself. I'm not going to lie, at least to myself. Selfishly, I wanted to keep Tony to myself, to hide him away down here where I could be with him whenever I wanted to. That would be all the time of course. Going without Tony, or sharing him after so long without having to, would be hard.

"That would be a good idea." I said, nodding and setting down my empty bowl. "He's got more expertise in this then we do. Plus, I don't imagine I'd enjoy scrapping you off the sidewalk when you wreck the suit." I teased him. He scowled at me and it was too adorable on his face to really affect me. I flicked his ear as I passed him to sit down at the hover table. "You know, we should work on incorporating the holograms into the entire room." I told him, swiveling around to look at him.

I jumped when I realized he was right behind me, grinning.

"Don't do that!" I said in exasperation, backing away a little, willing my cheeks not to flush from being so close to him. How funny that I was so frustrated by being so close with him now when I'd just had my hand in his chest like it was nothing, and he couldn't die if I didn't do anything right. He grinned crookedly and my breath hitched and my eyes flickered down to his perfect lips. With his signature facial hair framing them again they seemed to almost mesmerize me. Then I realized that he was talking to me.

"-today." He finished. I stared at him for a second and he seemed eager. Slowly I nodded, hoping I didn't just agree to something that I was going to regret. He grinned larger at me. "You've got no idea what I just said, do you?" He laughed when my head ducked. "Where do you go when you space out like that?" He asked me, leaning against the table.

"Different places." I said, not willing to tell him about how easily he could control me since I'm almost positive that he knew. I wasn't exactly subtle about it. I might have been at one point but now, not so much. Now I would have to work at getting back to where I was in making sure that he didn't know I loved him more than just a friend.

"I was saying that I was going to go to talk to Rhodes, do you want to come with me?" Tony asked again, picking up a rag and beginning to wipe at his skin, because he'd somehow gotten some discharge on him from my chest.

"Nope. I'm not going out in public wearing this." I paused, watching him and when he turned around I admired the view of his backside. It left a smirk on my lips but I wiped it away when he turned back with a new rag in his hand for me. I grinned and used it to wipe away anything that was on me, frowning when I found some oil on my hands. "I should probably go back to my own house and get dressed."

Tony froze for a second and his face became unreadable, and I worried that maybe something in the arc reactor had messed up, but the hum from my own spoke otherwise. It must be fine because mine was working just fine. "Why don't you bring some clothes over, and you can spend the night so that we can work constantly." Tony tried his hardest to be casual, motioning dummy to his desk.

"What? For how long?" I asked him, not understanding.

"What, you don't want to see my beautiful face?" Tony sassed, turning back to me but not looking me in the eye. He only did that when he was self-conscious, which is almost never. How _strange_. Tony must have been drinking because it's almost never that he's like this with me. Maybe I'm just being weird but Tony is acting just as weird.

"Stop kidding yourself, my face is the only one that's beautiful in this room." I joked, trying not to show my confusion to badly. "But I'll come back with a few changes because I want to get the suits done." I told him, giving in because that's just what I do when Tony asks me for something. Because he's Tony and I'm Anna.

"All right, we'll meet back up here then?" Tony questioned, still not looking me in the face. My eyebrows, of their own accord, met together and then I threw my hands out in frustration. What could I do? Sometimes I don't even get Tony. It's a miracle that I understand him half the time. I can chalk that up to being around him so long.

"Yeah, bye." I said, a little late as Tony was already shuffling upstairs, to get dressed I suppose. I rolled my eyes and just decided to give up on him for a little while. So instead I walked to my car but hesitated as I passed by Tony's old arc reactor. Cautiously and wavering between decisions I decided to grab it as well. I could make him something from it, to remind him. He needed reminding that I was here for him. As I drove back to my place I tried to think of something to make out of it. It was just as quiet and lonely as when I left it except now the pool was open. For some odd reason I couldn't help but to stare at it. The waters were crystal clear and looked so inviting.

**A bald guy was standing in another corner, but the cruel man was standing beside him, looking at me with real anger. Like I'd just told him that all of my weapons had been fake. What I really noticed, however, is the vat of water in front of me. It wasn't like the one they'd used before, the pitiful excuse for torture. Now it was filled with dirty, horrible smelling water. **

**And they were pushing me towards it.**

"**Build the weapons!" Yinsen was shouting, or translating. I screamed right before they thrust my head into that disgusting water, that I was sure blood was all in. Now, as I held my breath, I understood why Tony was wet. They had tried this on him, but it had not worked.**

**And now they were using me. **

**I couldn't breath, everything was horribly pressuring. I couldn't think, as all oxygen left my brain and the world spun. Then the disgusting bastards pulled me up again, only to let me get two breaths in before they pushed me back under. I screamed into the water, being able to make no sense of anything. Where was the floor? The top of the vat? Where was all of this water coming from? Again they pulled me up. I gasped for breathes, only getting one in before I was in again. Then the electromagnet short circuited, all of that shrapnel took a tentative move towards my heart. I screamed again into the water.**

I shuttered and scurried away from my pool, opting to forget about it for a while. I would deal with the memory later. Once inside my house, and Jarvis had updated me to the amount of work I know had I sighed. First things first, I actually got ready for the day. Before Afghanistan I would have been up already and would have been dressed probably hours ago. As I went to my closet, in my bedroom, my feet stopped me in front of my muscle room. The weights beckoned me. Oh how long had it been since I worked out?

Logically I knew working out in this condition wasn't good for me. So I forced myself to carry on, picking an outfit with light origins. I didn't want to wear anything that was uncomfortable because the likely hood of me doing anything that was not messy was very unlikely. So I picked out a cream colored shirt with a black baseball cap, and black skinny jeans. Shuffling back into my room, paperwork already in hand I couldn't help to think of how good, and bad it felt. Why was I just falling back into what I was doing? I hated being CEO.

This was a complete revelation. I'd never hated it before. If I thought about it though, it wasn't so much a hate for the position but I've been breed for this position my entire life. Being a genius at a young age, my parents didn't show me the affection that I wanted unless I did something amazing. I'd always strived to please them. Where are they now? Who am I trying to impress now? With these fancy clothes and working my ass off?

But I can't throw it away. The company would go to ruin, because Tony sure as hell can't take care of it. In the end nothing changes, I still have to be the CEO and I still have to work for something I've already achieved. The only thing that might have changed is my perception of it.

"Miss Vinci," Jarvis interrupted my thoughts, and the paperwork for the shutdown that I was currently working absently through. "There is a note in the docks that states you wished to be reminded to get a hold of Strategic Homeland…" Before he is even finished I wave him away with mutters, sitting down my paperwork to shuffle through for something.

"Jarvis, connect me to the number for them. I believe we still have one?" I questioned absently. "If we don't, hack it." It felt absently pleasing to know that I can just have Jarvis do that. I was no longer captive, I'm in _control _again. I found the sheet I was looking for, the last update that they sent me. As Jarvis took a second to hack through the system, trying to get me to the leader, I looked it over. The accounts seemed fine but this wasn't a spying agency for nothing. It amazed me, the overview he'd given me of some of the missions. It was very technical, because he didn't think I read them but it interested me. I do have a good education, a lot of it, so it was easy to maneuver through what I had time to, of the reports.

"Hacking achieved." Jarvis told me, and my screen on my computer desk popped up. I eyed it and grinned when I realized that it was a video. He'd hacked in and managed to get me a view of the director himself. I barely recognized him. He was standing in front of some kind of controls; I could just see a meeting table behind him. He obviously didn't realize that Jarvis had managed to hack into the system because there was no recognition or anything on his face.

Although with how scarred it is that didn't surprise me. His face was scared, and as tall as he was he was also bulky, too much muscle kind of bulky. His black clothes were very generic, but he had belts and I could guess that some of the bulk might have been armor. What I loved about his outfit, and was his best feature was the trench coat. I don't know what it is but it just makes people look heroic. Although it was my favorite, it was not the most noticeable. On his head, bald, was an eye-patch. I remember the statement. It had been a bland but still horrific mission gone wrong. He's completely missing the eye under that eye-patch.

"Shall I patch you in?" Jarvis asked me. I stared at the screen, frowning.

"No. Go ahead and get all the information you can off the computers and save it into another top secret file. Then up their security so that it's only the creator that can get through it." I told him, getting up from my chair. "Thank you Jarvis." I told him, flicking through my file. "Keep up the video feed."

"Yes madam." Jarvis' voice sounded almost distracted. I kept silent, half smiling. Jarvis really was something I'd missed. He was almost human to me, and that felt nice. Taking my files on the agency, as I'd named it since I was reluctant to actually think of a name for it right now, I walked to my kitchen. Then I remembered.

"Pack me a bag for Tony's to. Make it for a week, with comfort clothes." I told Jarvis, putting down the files so I could ready my meal. While I did, I had Jarvis bring up a clear screen on the counter, off to the side so that I could cook, so that I could watch. He'd brought up some of the cameras in different places. On another screen I brought up a blue print of the _helicarrier _which was as of right now on the sea. Though I'd been surprised to realize that it flew as well as went under water. I didn't like that it relied on helicopter like blades because those can be destroyed if someone were to aim at them. Though the invisibility they had working on the bottom probably helped.

"All right, do you have the number of the Director yet?" I asked Jarvis, crunching on a few baked chips. I was mostly snacking and not making a meal as I overviewed the information I had around me.

"Yes madam." Jarvis replied and the number popped up on the side of my screen. I stored it, locking it to the side of the screen.

"Okay, Can you send me his file?" I asked, sipping some tea with peppermint in it. Jarvis silently searched through the banks of information that he was still receiving and picked out director Fury. Then he overrode, without being asked the leveling for the system so that I could read the blacked out stuff. Wow. He was very good, and an old veteran. I cruised through it, looking over everything and highlighting a few things for later. Basically I, or Jarvis, had gotten through the system and copied all of the information, the plans, the data, and everything.

"All right Jarvis, plug me into the Director." I said, putting down my tea and chomping on a chip, watching in amusement as the director frowned and picked up his cellphone. It wasn't as high-tech as Vinci phones, but it was standard, with caller ID. I'm sure he didn't know my number. He cast an uneasy eye around the command room, where he'd been going over something on the table with some chick that I'd looked up and was Agent Hill, his kind of second in command.

"Director Fury." He grunted and I raised an eyebrow when his almost sassy voice came through the speakers hidden in my kitchen. Swallowing I clicked something on screen so I could change the cameras to see his face.

"Hello, Director Fury. This is Annabella Vinci." I told him, watching his confusion grow, but he was very good in hiding it. He waved away Agent Hill, pointing at someone else who was on a screen. I realized he was telling the man controling the screen to track me. I poked the screen, overriding his system to send him on a wild goose chase.

"Miss Vinci. Haven't heard from you since my induction." Fury said, trying to keep me talking. I rolled my eyes, even as a red head, in what I was beginning to realize was the common blue uniform of the Agency appeared in the room as if called.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Been a little focused on Stark & Vinci for a while." I told him, pushing a few more keys when the guy got close to where Jarvis was sending him. It made me smirk when the red head, who was beautiful for a spy and reminded me of the Bonds movies, crouched down by the screen but still on the walkway.

"I've heard you've got your priorities straightened recently." Fury shot. I didn't react to his insult since I could see the people now scrambling to find me. Jarvis was silently, and without instructions, mixing up his signals. I preened in praise and pride.

"Oh you know, just a vacation. I've noticed that you've been lacking on the reports. Did you think I didn't read them?" I asked him, folding my arms on the counter, watching the mad scramble with laughing eyes, before I finally just stopped the mixed signals Jarvis was sending them on, leaving them to believe I was currently in Georgia.

"Well you haven't been interested before, don't see no reason why I should waste time." Fury stared at the screen with my supposed area marked on a map. I snorted, moving the screen around so I could see the red head. She was frowning at the screen, in skepticism and another man, with a bow in his hand, and a bandage on his arm was standing behind her in a different black uniform. I eyed them both. They seemed to realize that what was on the screen was wrong. I was right because she started clicking away on it. I pushed a few buttons, sending them off again.

"AH, that would be where you are wrong. I read all of them, I just put it on the back burner because you seemed to have a hold on it." I told him, scratching my chin. "You should stop looking. I'm not in Georgia. If you must know I'm at home." I told him, grinning when he froze, then put a hand up to stop the others. "I don't mean to be a bother. I just want to ask for you to supply some trainers." I paused. "In return I'm thinking of _funding _the agency. You know getting _interested _in it." I told him, resting my head on my shoulder. I was impressed, as I watched not the director, but the red head and the man were actually doing a pretty good job, though the man was just muttering things to the red head.

"And what makes you think that a spy agency wants to give you a trainer just so you can gain some weight and fight off a few fans." Fury argued, now getting down so he himself could try it. I chuckled over the phone, letting out a breathing sound after that, not unlike Tony but excuse me if I don't acknowledge that.

"Yeah. Because that's why I want it. Tell me, Director Fury have your computers found me yet? I'm telling you I'm at my house but I bet they've sent you many places by now." I told him, watching curiously as he tensed again before barking an order to someone else in a quiet, but forceful voice. "Here I am, just sitting here and I've managed to get information in my hands that could probably break your program sideways. I've only bothered with getting the files for the agency. Do I need to break in to something else next?" I teased him, working my own magic on the screen, managing to get my face on the screen that he was currently working at.

The red head and the other, with blonde or brown hair I wasn't sure, flanked him on both sides almost immediately but I didn't do anything more than shove another chip in my mouth as Jarvis brought up their names to the side of the screen. Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff.

"Hello." I said again, leaning my face onto my hand. I should probably get back to Tony's soon but I needed to set up some way for me to get better, and I'm not prepared to do it on my own. "Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff." I said, wiggling my fingers of my other hand at them. "I like your hair." I commented distractedly at Romanoff. She was staring at me, probably analyzing me. I'm half glad that I'd gotten dressed before this, and at least run a brush through my hair. Of course shoving food in my face probably didn't help my image exactly.

"How did you-" Agent Barton started but I grinned and Jarvis interrupted.

"Ma'am. I hate to interrupt your hacking of an agency you already own," Jarvis' voice tone never changed but the sarcasm was heard none the less. "But Mr. Stark would like a word with you." I snorted.

"Yeah, probably. Look, Fury." I addressed him now. "I'm not trying to move in and be director or anything. I'm just saying you need funding; you're barely functioning as is with it. I can get you funding but I'm not going to when I'm walking around as thin as a rail." I was sarcastic. "Get back to me." I cut the line of, and the video feed. I felt kind of bad for doing it the way I did, but the way I figure is that he wouldn't have done it if I hadn't proved myself. And what way would be better than to out spy a spy? Plus, they needed an upgrade in their systems.

I switched everything into hibernation before I answered Tony's call, crunching on a carrot. "Hello, Mr. Stark." I answered, in a kind of good mood for some odd reason.

"Anna." Tony deadpanned. I rolled my eyes.

"How'd it go? When should I expect Rhodes to show up?" I asked him, already walking out of the kitchen, preparing to make my way back to Tony's house. Tucking on a pair of green heels. My clothes were lose, but I noticed I wasn't as skinny as even just the night before. Eating whenever I could was really helping even being here only a day has helped. I mean, who knew the human body could gain weight this fast.

"You won't until I get my 'mind right'." Tony grumbled over the phone. I paused on my way out the door, suitcase already in hand and preparing to leave.

"What?" Why would he say that?

"Anna, I didn't even get the words out of my mouth before he said no. As soon as he knew it wasn't for the government he assumed I went humanitarian and told me to go get my mind right." Tony vented to me. "I thought he was my friend." He muttered crossly.

"He is Tony, it's just he's military first." I pushed my suitcase into the passenger seat of my Lamborghini, skimming my hands across my precious car in welcome. "Military people have been trained to think of the country first and us dropping out of the weapons contract is devastating. You have to think that Stark Industries was a weapons contractor before Vinci joined with them." I revved my engine before backing up and driving out of my driveway. JARVIS of course followed me with the call.

"…." Tony didn't say anything, which made me roll my eyes. He never could be straight with his feelings could he?

"I'll be there soon and then we can work on the technical stuff together. I've always been interested in flying anyways." I cut in, sighing. Of course I was going to have JARVIS bring up a beginners guide to flying because I didn't know a thing about it, really.

"No you haven't. But the sentiment is still there." Tony snorted. I turned a corner, stopping when a pedestrian walked in front of me.

"Well, you never know how much you like or hate something until you try it." I hummed instead of cursed when the pedestrian stopped in front of me and gawked. I smiled at him anyways and waved. He flushed and looked around him before scuttling off. I revved the engine instead of getting angry and zoomed off.

"Whatever you say, love muffin." Tony teased me. I laughed at him.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get there. Okay, sour grape?" I chuckled when he protested against the returned name. It felt good to be able to joke again, to like what I was doing.

Just as I began to get in Tony's drive I came up with an idea, off the top of my head for Tony's gift. I'd write something around the arc reactor so he'd remember that I was here for him. It wasn't too extravagant an idea, but it was sweet so maybe it would get through to him.

**So what do you think? I was supposed to do something here, like tell you something but I'm so tired right now that I couldn't remember. I do know that I have to say sorry. I didn't finish writing the rest of the sequel like I planned. Turns out Real Life came calling and I had to get up and do stuff. Ugh, that stuff…..**


	11. Its Splendour

"This isn't funny." I complained. Five days from the start of our project and I was currently wearing the boot of my suit. It was a work of art, theoretically, if it worked you know. Tony was fixing up some of the pieces that were too delicate for the machines to manufacture. I still thought it was a step to much for me to actually put the boot on but Tony insisted.

"Screw it Dummy, don't even move." Tony told his little robot. I remember when he first made and had been so proud of it. I was still proud of him. It was almost as affectionate as a mother to her son. But I'm sure a mother doesn't feel this way about their son. If they do, then I'd be a little scared for my life right now.

"Tony, be nice." I clucked half-heartedly.

"Okay, Anna, can you move?" Tony asked me, moving back. I was standing on top of the silver table and Tony was working on my right boot. I had the system already connected to my arc reactor, so that I could work on the arm, testing it out to see if the buttons worked. I shifted my feet, after connecting the boots up to the arm system so it could draw power to.

"Yeah, there's a little pull on the left heel though." I told him, twisting it off of the table. "Maybe we can piece together the joints finer at the heel." I almost questioned, and then frowned at him. "I still don't think the testing is a good idea yet." He looked up and grinned at me. He'd gotten out of the shower just a few minutes before this and he had his hair slicked back and his beard was freshly trimmed. In short I was falling in love with him all over again as we joked around and worked, like nothing had changed.

"Okay, wait a second." Tony rolled over in his chair, picking up a bit of his metal and then frying it, again, to the joint in the back. He stared at it for a second before replacing the burner. "Now move." I did as instructed, turning a few ways and making sure it was flexible. "Better?"

"Perfect." I told him, sitting down so that I could rest my feet on the floor. "Are you ready?" I was careful walking but the steel of it was steady and didn't bend under my weight. The boots kept steady and after a second I relaxed. It was nerve wrecking to know how much I was out of shape, and I needed to be in it. I was gaining weight, eating every chance I get and as much as the right foods as I could.

"Yeah." Tony said, grinning at me but Jarvis stopped us with an announcement.

"Ms. Vinci, you have a couple of visitors at Vinci manor." Jarvis announced and I cringed.

"And who would that be?" I answered, checking the connection of the pieces.

"An Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton." Jarvis said after a pause. I jerked my head up in surprise. It had been five days since I called them and I'd started to think that I was going to have to call up some kind of hipster nutritionist to help me.

"Let them in but keep them away from anything above level two importance. And don't talk to them." I told him. "I'll be there in a bit." I started unplugging the mechanics. Tony pouted at me, dropping the screwdriver he'd been holding back to the table.

"Who are Romanoff and Barton?" Tony asked, suspicious. I rolled my eyes, pulling on my over shirt as I stepped out of the boots.

"They're going to be getting me back in shape, so that I can actually fit into the suit we're making." I told him, picking up a few things I left out around the lab, which was bright as we had the windows open. "I'll take back my clothes and get some different ones. Maybe I'll bother with some clothes that I can wear outside." I mused, stuffing my suitcase, which I hadn't bothered to take out of the car and instead just picked up clothes as I needed them, full of my discarded clothes into the passenger side of the Lamborghini. Tony didn't answer me and I sat up from my car and looked back to him.

Tony's eyes were shocked as he stared at what was in his hand but his lips were in the process of turning into a devilish grin. The moment I realized what he was staring at I ran to him, tugging it out of his surprised, lax grip.

"Shut up." I demanded, even before he said anything. I shoved the Victoria Secret panties back into the car and scowled at him as he swaggered over with all the grace of a man who'd just seen a woman's underwear.

"I didn't say anything." Tony grinned at me and his eyes were dark but I kept scowling, bending to get into my car. "…yet." Automatically my arm reached out and I smacked his lower arm as he leant against the car door now. He flinched but kept grinning while I scowled.

"Well, what did you think I wore? Granny panties?" I demanded, flustered as I stood awkwardly, just waiting for him to say something. Why was I so embarrassed you may ask yourself, when Tony and I are close? I don't really flash my underwear around for him you know.

"Nope, just not lingerie on a daily basis." Tony's grin was almost…hungry? "It fits." My flushed cheeks spread to my neck and I scowled at him.

"Don't make fun of me. And it isn't lingerie." I muttered, because what else could I say to that? I don't know what Tony was trying to do. It was either make me die of embarrassment or…something that Tony wouldn't possibly do to me. "_Anyways_ you can call Pepper while I'm gone and maybe try to take care of some of the mess that we've left for her. You can take this chance to make up for forgetting her birthday." I dropped into my car, desperately trying to get away from this strange moment.

Even a few minutes later, walking into Vinci mansion, rolling a suitcase behind me and twirling my keys around my finger, I still couldn't figure out his reaction. Sighing I stopped rolling the suitcase.

"Jarvis, start packing me a new pack please, and pack a dress for me, formal." I muttered, and then paused. I was forgetting something. I know I came home for another reason but for _what_? Crossing my house and into the kitchen, I found out what I forgot as two people were casually making themselves at home. The red head and her little boyfriend. I groaned and scratched the back of my head, already fighting off a head ache. How bad would it be if I just stayed out of shape?

"Can you pass me the coffee?" I asked Agent Barton, as I remember. If Director Fury hadn't made me so angry I suppose I wouldn't have asked for certain agents but I did read their statistics and they did seem to be the best at what they do. Not that I necessarily need to know how to kill people in five different ways but you know it could come in handy.

The red head, Natasha, was wearing a black sports bra, with a matching jacket and pants while the other was just casually wearing a purple t-shirt and grey sweat pants. I figured asking what they were doing here, or demanding something would only be useless. After all I did ask for them to be here. Agent Barton, not saying a word as well, passed me the coffee. I sat down at my bar and sipped at it straight from the pot. After all it was my house, despite the fact that I haven't really lived in it since I got back.

"I'm Anna." I suddenly announced, putting down the pot of coffee to trudge to my stash of candy bars, just needing something sweet. "And sorry about the kind of forceful way that I brought you here."

"Director Fury directly assigned us to your case. We are here to train you." Agent Romanoff said in an almost detached voice. With what I read in her file I should have expected that. When she stood up from eating my eyebrow's raised in surprise.

"What, you want to train me right now?" I asked her, looking around.

"The sooner we start teaching the prissy girl to kill people the better." Agent Barton complained. Yeah, no hidden hostility there. I pursed my lips and took a deep breath, keeping myself completely calm despite my want to yell at him. They can kill me very easily I'll bet so yelling at them won't help do anything but make this harder, and them angrier.

"I'm going to let that slide, because you don't know me, or what it's like to be a 'prissy girl'. I'll take you to the workout room." I spun on my heel, muttering under my breath about his lack of respect. I may not have earned it but even I give a basic level of respect to people I've never met before. I didn't hear the two of them following me, but when I glanced behind me they were both following me. I guess that's another thing that I'll have to learn. I was way behind. Working out isn't the same as being able to walk like that and I bet it would be easier to scare Tony to death if he couldn't hear me coming up behind him.

"We'll be staying here with you, so as to better train you." Agent Romanoff told me. "We took the liberty of choosing the rooms with the best views." I turned to her, frowning but I kept walking. I wasn't ecstatic that they took that liberty with my own house but I guess that's what I get for leaving them here while I came over.

"Curiously we couldn't get into any rooms but the bedrooms." Agent Barton dug indiscreetly.

"Madam." JARVIS' voice cut in. Both of the Agents tensed, and swiveled around. It made me laugh, before I covered it up with my hand over my mouth. "Mr. Stark is insisting that he talk with you."

"Tell Tony that I'm currently engaged and if he bothers me I'll make sure that Pepper finds out about his crush, my dear JARIVS." I threatened, turning on the lights as I came into the workroom. It was of course spotless as all of my other rooms, because of JARVIS but I think it was kind of obvious that I hadn't worked in the room recently, because when the lights came on I literally had to look around the room. I'd spent so much time in here before and now I can't even remember what the machine in the back does. "I've got a set up out back for gymnastics and a pool out front for swimming, but I don't." I cautioned, moving into the room, frowning at the corner where my work out outfit is supposed to be but wasn't.

"This'll do. Do you have fighting mats?" Agent Barton said, as both he and Romanoff moved into the room, almost as if they born here. Which with their bodies I could believe it. Barton's arms were practically bulging out of his arms, and the Russian was too well proportioned not to have had some conditioning. While here I was skinny, and gaining. I mean at least I'm getting some weight about me now. I can't see my ribs any more so that's good, right?

"Yeah, but they're in storage. I'll go get them." I frowned.

"Who was speaking?" Romanoff finally asked. They hadn't said anything about it, even after they just kind of freaked out. You'd think they would have been better at reacting.

"That's Jarvis, my A.I. Don't worry, he won't kill you." I waved them away, pressing my finger on a scanner on the wall and it opened to show the storage. A few of the machines were in here, old versions, and some spare weights were on shelves around the room. I shuffled over to the mats, dust covered. I tugged them out and groaned under the weight. They were blue, and looked so thin that I was afraid that I would hit concrete through them. For all their thinness the mats were awfully heavy.

Or they were until there was someone else to help me. I was surprised when I looked over to see the guy there helping me. "What's this? You have a heart?" I teased, picking up my side a little more as I lead us out the storage door.

"I figure if I butter up to you, I'll get some money out of it." He deadpanned and I grinned back at him as we moved it to a spot that the red head had cleared the machines out from.

"If this goes like I'm thinking it's going to go then you won't be getting any money from me." I smirked and dropped the mat with him. "What do you want me to call you two anyways?" I asked him, and her. The red head was using tape, from wherever she got it around her knuckles and I internally groaned. I liked exercising, but I've never been into the fighting kind of learning.

"I thought you knew everything about us." Romanoff stated, looking up from her tape to me. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, even as I tugged on the edge of my shirt. Even with the muscle shirt I had on under it, that I stole from Tony, I didn't feel comfortable showing them that much skin. Maybe it was because of the scars. I didn't want to show people the scars in getting the arc reactor, and already the arc reactor itself was something I didn't want to show them. It was already bad enough that people knew I was kidnapped and tortured, but knowing that I would carry that around with me, even if it wasn't noticeable up top, it was noticeable to me.

"That doesn't mean I know what you want to be called. Plus, I don't know everything about you. I didn't want to get to personal after all. I just read a few mission reports and your name and picture. And your 'rating' of course." I noted rolling my shoulders and shifting my feet uncomfortably. I didn't know if I was supposed to stretch or something before this. "Unlike what I let on, I am not some diabolical mastermind bent on evil." I told them. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Yeah well you came off as one all right. Shield was practically frantic trying to find out what was going on, and how you got in." The man came up to me, sticking his hand out to me, which I took. "I'm Clint Barton. You can call me Clint while I'm off the job, Hawkeye on the job." I nodded, grinning at him.

"You're supposed to be good with the bow?" I asked him curiously.

"Something like that." He said in amusement.

"I've used one before but I'm not really that overly good with it." I admitted. The red head stared at me for a second so I elaborated under her unnerving stare. "My company was going to invest in some arrows that were supposed to be extra important, before we merged with Stark, and I had to know a thing or two if I wanted to get my money's worth. I liked it well enough." I almost felt like a little kid under her stare, because it was so unnerving. It was almost as if I was back in school or even under my mother's stare. The feeling was eerily similar.

"Well that won't help you if you're getting shot at." Barton told me, knocking me down behind my knees. I groaned as I hit the ground, scowling. "Or in hand to hand combat. First we're going to work up your muscles, but not with machines. Machines give you artificial muscles for unnecessary bulk that you can't use to your advantage. Nat will be building you up and stretching you out for later." I looked to the red head.

"I'm Natasha, Natasha Romanoff." She told me, holding out a hand and I took it, cautious that I was going to get the same treatment from her. I was partially right, at least she waited until I had my bearings before jumping at me. The groan of before turned into one of pain as she twisted herself around my stomach and brought me down with her on top. While she looked wonderful, smoothly coming up I was just left weightless on the floor. All of those pains, including the scars on my chest were hurting.

I thought, vaguely as I stumbled up trying to regain my balance, that I could tell them about my scars or even the arc reactor. But I didn't want the arc reactor to become a hindrance. It was made to keep me alive and once the suit is done, to better me, not to make my life worse. So when I was on my feet I dropped back a few feet, trying to make sure they weren't going to attack me, or at least I would know if they were.

"I thought I was paying to get me into shape, not kill me." I hesitantly said, eyeing Barton even as he laughed at me. "I didn't ask to be made an assassin or anything." I muttered, shuffling in my hot shirt. "Jarvis crank up the AC." I told him absentmindedly.

"The director told us to tell you that if you want to act like one you should be trained like one." Clint seemed to almost recite from memory, and if I can say so having known him for only a few minutes, I'd say he was. It sounded to unsarcastic.

"This is just his way of getting back at me, isn't it?" I sighed, cracking my neck in annoyance. Clint only grinned again and Romanoff, or Natasha as she'd neglected to tell me what exactly she wanted to be called, kept her neutral face and I realized that was probably the only face she made. I could see it in her eyes though, just around the edges if you will, the tension and the past horror that she had faced. It made the fear of her I was currently feeling turn into a respect. I imagine my own green eyes didn't exactly show rainbows and butterflies with my past.

"You should change into something thinner. You'll be sweating to much in that sweater." Natasha, which is the name I'm going to use, told me, or more so ordered me, her eyes looking me over in an almost absent anger. I wonder if she was just naturally aggressive or that was just her face. Not to be mean or something but she scares me. Not that I let on to that, especially since I was more worried about showing them my scars and my reactor. There would be the inevitable questions that I didn't know how to answer.

Tony and I had decided that the world didn't to know a great deal about the arc reactor. All they needed to know it was there. No need to tell them how important the arc reactor is, that it was a basically a second heart for me and Tony. Or how fundamental it is. Meaning, we don't need people to know that is the only things keeping us alive. After all, we've made a lot of enemies. Even with the short time we've been with I'm guessing that we've made more enemies then we used to have.

"I'll go change into something. I'd say make yourselves comfortable but I know you will." Walking out of the door the comment was absent-minded and I barely noticed them glance at each other. I know that my expression could have been nothing short of suddenly distracted. Hurrying to my room I muttered crossly at the air.

"Mr. Stark wishes to speak with you." JARVIS suddenly chimed in again. I frowned as I stepped into my closet, actually at a lost. Not because Tony wanted to talk to me so much, he probably wanted to go ahead with the suit. By the time I get back he'll have already tried it out I bet. He's too excited and into this that he wouldn't be able to wait for me.

"All right, just put him through. In the meantime, Jarvis, babe, please tell me you know where some kind of work out thing is where I can hid the reactor under it?" I pleaded, walking through the shelves, trying to just spot something that I could wear. I couldn't take too long or they'd come up here searching. They wouldn't get in here. Even with all of their physical force, this place is capable of taking tsunami's and keeping me safe. They'd have to be able to decode Jarvis to get in and I've never found anyone who can even understand Jarvis' coding it was so complex. Jarvis is a learning system, so he learns and that makes his coding even more complex.

"Try the second drawer on the fifth high shelf." It wasn't Jarvis' voice that came through the system but Tony's. I looked up distractedly, as if he was going to turn around and be there. I did as he said, having to use a step ladder to get there because I was so short and there were so many drawers. Maybe I should start throwing this stuff away. But wearing more than one outfit in the same year, sometimes ever, can be seen as a failure in my little part of society.

"How did you know that?" I asked Tony, incredulously as I tugged a black thin shirt that would be breezy but also hide my arc reactor, and my scars from the view of the master assassins currently in my house.

"Hey, I _have _been over to your house before." Tony complained and I can just hear the offense in his voice but I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah maybe five times. Not enough to know everything in my closet." I told him, shucking my shirt and pants as I began to change. "And really not enough to be able to point me to the correct drawer that my work out clothes are in." As soon as I pulled the yoga pants on I pouted. I'd lost so much weight that they almost looked like regular pants, unfortunately though. Yoga pants were a secret favorite of mine. I liked to wear them because they made me seem attractive, even to Tony who had even one time stared at my rear end blandly.

"I had Jarvis catalogue it. In case you've got any more _interesting _garments." Tony's voice was amused while I was a little sickened by the fact he thought that was a good idea to do.

"You know, if I hadn't known you for so long then I'd call you a stalker." I told him, looking in my shoes for some converse high tops. What does one wear for learning to kill people with a stapler? "But you didn't call because you wanted to pick out my outfit; at least I hope you didn't. I'd start worrying about leaving you and Rhodes together." I teased, while also inquiring. I just have that level of skill when sarcasm comes into play.

"If I'm a stalker you'd be a serial killer. I bet you know where everything in my house is." Tony defended himself, while also avoiding my question, which wasn't that strange for Tony. I could ask him to pass the salt and he'd complain and avoid actually doing it. Stupid, lovely, annoying man. "You've been in my bedroom more than I have." Tony stated, confident.

"Yes well if I drank as much as you had then you'd probably know my room backwards and forwards to." I jabbed back. I've run out of things to do in this room but I couldn't leave and allow the two assassins' downstairs to hear our conversation. It felt wrong to have them in my personal life, because I didn't personally know them so their values and morals may be different. Plus, I liked talking to Tony even if we were arguing, or teasing each other.

"Where is my purple tie?" Tony asked me and without thinking my mind answered.

"On the left of the door with the rest of your ties." MY mistake was made apparent by Tony's snicker and I groaned. "I don't have time for this. I'm training now. Can you tell me what you need?" I asked, shuffling on the spot.

"Are you coming over later?" Tony asked me.

"JARVIS what time is it?" I asked him. JARVIS flashed it on the back of the door and I turned incredulous. "Tony it is six at night. You'll be in bed in a few hours I _hope._" I stressed the importance of sleep. It wasn't hard to remember the times where I would arrive at Tony's house to find him staying up through the night. JARVIS' records suggest that it isn't just one night that he stays up.

Tony's silence is almost disturbing before suddenly his face takes the place of the clock on the door and I'm staring at a ruffled haired Tony with his arc reactor shining in an almost completely dark work shop besides the hologram and a few lights that I'm sure was coming from the hall where his elevator and the stairs resided.

"Anna, I can't….sleep in this house." Tony muttered, his voice gruff. The reason for the video feed was, I'm sure, so that I could see his sincerity but it was unnecessary. Tony's voice, just how it didn't half the half joking tone of before, would have had me agreeing. "Alone." My heart nearly broke at the sadness and the hope in his eyes as I met them. Where was the over confident man who warded me out of the lab when I got to

"Well…." I paused, sighing and funning my fingers through my short hair and shuttering at the reminder of how short it was. I'd almost forgotten which was odd. It made me feel free but I was hoping that soon it would get longer again. I'm sure it's a topic of gossip since my hair has never been shorter then my elbows. "I guess if I made it a rule I could come over." I sighed loudly. His face brightened and he pulled something into the picture and I realized it was the belt that would temporarily connect around my waist so I could power up my boots through the arc reactor.

"Good, your belt is finished along with the wiring. I'll have the handles done by the time you come over and we can test the flight capabilities." Tony told me and the corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile. That was so Tony, to try and avoid the sentimental moment he just had. He can't handle it at all and that's okay. Tony is fine just the way he is, emotionally screw up or not.

"Fine, fine." I muttered, cutting the connection with a flick over his face on the back of the door.

Time to get beat to death by two master assassins who aren't happy that they are off assignment to help a preppy girl get back in shape for a dress.

**Thanks for pointing out some errors in my last post. That was horrible. I don't see how you guys manage it. Anyways, I've finally done it. I've finished the sequel and am now left with nothing to write. There is a tie on my poll, and I don't know what to do. So I guess I'm just going to reach out to whatever sounds good in my head at the time. I think I can safely call my sequel a masterpiece.**

**Only joking.**

**But it is pretty amazing. **

**I didn't have time to really do much of it yesterday, so I stayed up extremely late to type the last of it. I don't know why. I just felt like if I didn't finish it now then I might not and I'd forget about it and you guys would get angry.**

**I hope you've enjoyed these longer chapters in this story, because the other one is finished a nine chapters. Amazingly enough. It might be one of my shortest but I think it's got enough shall we say…'problems' in it to make it good enough of a read.**

**That's if I'm not getting a big head from the reviews. Seriously, you guys are wonderful and I'm glad you like my story, it's a big relief to me to have put this much effort into something and having it well received!**


	12. Grasp it, Sense it, Tremulous and Tender

"Tony?" I called, as I stumbled into the door. My thighs were burning with the tricks that Natasha thought would be funny to try and get me to do when I literally could barely stand, much less twirl around some pole. The explanation was that if you were fast enough and could hold their arms correctly you could make them unconscious, or dead. Or at least that's the excuse she used. It depends whether or not you clinch too hard on their throats. Ugh, those two have drilled too much into my head. Why did I make the decision to do this? I should have just eaten burger after burger and then trimmed myself up.

"Sir is in the T.V. room." JARVIS' voice told me. I groaned and wobbly started my way through the large house. I have never wanted to just fall over and sleep the rest of my life away this much.

"Tony you better be ready to go to sleep-" My words were cut off as I finally stumbled into the TV room. Saucers replaced my eyes as I realized what was in front of me. Instead of the usual bland living room, that looked like it was never even used, was a pile of pillows. That was an over exaggeration but the couch seemed to almost disappear. There were pillows on both corners and blankets that were as thick as the length of my shoulders. Admittedly I wasn't as tall and broad shoulders as most, but still. As short and tiny as I am, blankets shouldn't be there.

"Tony?" I said slowly. The kitchen light was on and I faltered as he poked his head out of the kitchen door. His hair was still ruffled and in his hands, as he came all the way back into the room, was a bowl, and I don't mean a regular bowl, of ice cream in it. My mouth wouldn't move even as he set the ice cream down on the table in front of the T.V. "Am I missing something here?" My voice came out slow as I looked between all of the abnormalities in this room alone.

"Nope. JARVIS said it was unhealthy to stay in the lab any longer." Tony invented. I knew it was invented because Tony never listens to JARVIS' subtle (Or non-subtle) mentions of health.

"Uh-huh." I noted, limping slowly forward. "I'm sure that's the reason." But Tony looked as if he wasn't even paying attention to my words but instead looking me over. It made me uncomfortable.

"Are you hurt?" Tony demanded and I realized that my limp might have been more noticeable then I wanted it to be. Mentally cursing I walked to stand in front of the couch, cautious of the man's sudden attention to my well-being. The attention kind of surprised me. Tony hadn't asked me that question in so long. It had been so long since he _cared_.

"I'm fine, just a little sore around the edges." I joked with him, but Tony's face cleared up, knowing I wasn't directly hurt.

"JARVIS and I were about to watch a movie. Sit down and enjoy." Tony ordered, taking my upper arms and lightly pushing me down to sit in between the massive amount of pillows and pulled the blanket or the comforter really, over me. My amusement turned swiftly to bewilderment at Tony's out of character care. Since when had Tony Stark ever been gentle with me? Ignoring the flush of my cheeks, and the tingling of his touch I watched him head over to the large case of movies. I was a little ashamed to admit that most of them were mine as well. But that was okay because most of my stuff was in this house.

"Alright." I stretched the word out, in question, tilting my head back to see what movie he was grabbing but I couldn't see it. "And why are we watching this movie again?" I asked him, and then looked lustfully at the large bowl of ice cream in front of me. "And eating enough ice cream to send me into cardiac arrest, reactor be damned?" Tony returned to me, after pushing a DVD into the slot. He grabbed the ice cream which curiously already had two spoons in it, and joined me under the comforter. My heart beat sped up.

With the pillows surrounding us, and behind us, his body was pressed completely against mine, from shoulder to thigh and it made my breath catch when he put his arm behind me. He set the ice cream bowl on top of where our legs met and grabbed a spoon.

"JARVIS-" Tony started but I rolled my eyes and he noticed, deflating. He never could hide from me. "It just so happens, my dear Lady Vinci," Where had I heard that before? "That today is the same day as the first time we met." My confusion turned into disbelief.

"What?" The word slipped out of my mouth before I was even aware I wanted to say it.

"Don't tell me you forgot." Tony pouted but behind the expression I could see something much more stern in his eyes. He seemed like he truly was taking this serious. "After all, how many times do you meet someone as handsome as me?" And there is his signature smirk and comment but the look didn't leave his eyes. I tentatively took a spoon, dipping it into the vanilla ice cream with chocolate drizzled on it, my favorite. How did Tony remember that? He's never remembered it before. Maybe he didn't remember it and he just wanted to eat some.

"Every day on the street." I quipped back, turning to look at the movie as JARVIS kicked it on, automatically skipping past the previews for us. To my surprise I recognized what we were going to watch. "The Hobbit? You hate the Hobbit." I exclaimed, my eyes widening as I looked back to his face.

"I don't hate it. I've never seen it." Tony replied, taking his own bite. I stared at him.

"You told me you'd seen it." I argued, scowling. "How can you be in my presence and not have seen The Hobbit before?" I wiggled my arm out far enough to slap at Tony's vulnerable side. He wiggled to try and get away but it was impossible with how close we were.

"I'm seeing it now aren't I?" Tony argued. "JARVIS, play."

"Yes, sir." JARVIS answered and as the first scene came on I glanced between the screen and Tony. What was wrong with him? First of all he isn't working when he has a serious project to finish. This should be enough to make me worry. Second he used the excuse that he couldn't sleep. I like to think that Tony can show me himself but he usually doesn't. I just end up interpreting it correctly. Third, he made me ice cream, my favorite. And fourth, he's watching the Hobbit with me, while nestled close enough that I could feel his every breath. At least I took a shower before coming over.

My eyes couldn't decide whether they wanted to rest on Tony or the TV screen. I'm sure this wasn't about the anniversary of when I met him. He'd never celebrated it before, unless I brought it up. I never usually did because well, I myself don't remember many of my own anniversaries. I only remember the day that Tony graduated from MIT, and when I did. Well, also there is the anniversary of when Tony got control over Stark Industries. That's more because from then on 'work' became fun. True, I'd have liked if Tony did have some kind of filter, and actually worked but you can't have everything.

"Who is that?" Tony asked, furrowing his eyebrows. As he turned to look at me I hastily turned my face away, because I had been gazing at him. My cheeks would have given me away, even if he hadn't seen me turn away from him.

"That's Frodo." I supplied. Tony hadn't been interested in movies, not as much as I had. He always had fun living, such as going out and getting drunk every chance he had. I had no reason to do that, and no want to if I was being honest.

"Why was his introduction so dramatic? And I thought this was supposed to be about Bilbo Baggins, not some decrepit old man." Tony complained. I huffed and told JARVIS to pause the movie for a moment.

"Bilbo Baggins is not just some old decrepit man. First of all he is a _hobbit_, not a man." I started. "If you'd watched the other Lord of the Rings movies you'd _know _all of this. It's why they are really short, stealthy and…well." My frustration levels were high. Who grew up not watching the Lord of the Rings. A small voice whispered in my head…_People with parents like his and yours._

"We'll just have to watch the entire series then." Tony told me, leaning over out of our cocoon and to the table, picking up the other three movies. My mouth dropped open as he handed them to me. "Which should we start with then, master?" My eyes glanced up to his amused face but something was different. It wasn't a smug kind of amusement, but instead a soft kind. How strange…

"Um….technically when J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the books, The Hobbit was the prologue to the Lord of the Rings series, but the Lord of the Rings movies were made before the Hobbit." My eyebrows furrowed now, instead of Tony's. "Let's just watch the Hobbit first." I decided. Tony snorted, taking the movies from me and setting them down. "You'll just have to wait if you don't understand anything." Taking a deep breath, hoping this wasn't pushing it too far, and somehow knowing I wasn't, I snuggled closer to Tony.

I moved so that my cool back pressed against his chest, and I could feel the arc reactor there with every breath he took. My head rested on his shoulder and I stretched my legs out, wiggling them under the pillows to my side. I was practically lying all over Tony but he didn't seem to mind. Instead his arm, that had been an ever present anxiety attack, moved from the back of the couch and to rest between the side of me and the back rest, lying on the couch. My heart rate must have doubled and my breath caught as his head rested on my shoulder.

"JARVIS, play the movie." Tony breathed and I swear he knows what he's doing because as he spoke his lips traced my shoulder, making a not very subtle shudder to run down my spine. Oh no, I can't have this reaction to him. What would he think, now of all times when he was being so sweet to me? I tried to hide my reaction by digging back into the ice cream in front of us. Tony's arm reached around me and I realized that between my own movements, and his hunger, I had become engulfed in his arms. My cheeks flamed but I was steady fast in watching the movie.

Even as my cheeks turned crimson, I was blissful. It had been so long since Tony and I had been alone with no pressure. We didn't have to think about our parents, who hated us, or even the company needing us because we were laying low.

All I needed to worry about was Bilbo, Thorin, and those two cute dwarves who always managed to get into trouble with the ponies.

She didn't know it but he didn't watch that much of the movie. Tony could watch that later. He was more concerned with watching this tiny woman get so caught up in a movie. It was as if she was being transported away. Tony hoped not because he liked her right where she was, by him.

It was so clear to him now, as he watched her, the way she moved even if he gave the slightest hint of discomfort. He could see how much she cared for him but he'd been so blind to her. Tony wasn't a catch, not before, and especially not after the cave. He was broken and ugly and used, where she had come out of that cave as if nothing had changed. The words of Yinsen never left him, even after he'd died.

"_Open your eyes Stark. She is right there. Where is this Pepper Potts? Ms. Vinci is waiting but one day she won't be any more."_

Tony didn't know when she'd fallen for him and before the cave, he probably never would have guessed. He was good at reading Anna, but he'd never seen her in love, or so he thought he hadn't. Tony had seen her in a relationship, no doubt that she had dated but he'd never seen her in love. Hell, how many times had Tony himself nagged her for not being in love? He'd been making an ass out of himself before.

'Not like anything was different now.' He thought bitterly as Anna yawned, even as the eagles began to save the day. He'd always been an ass to her, ever since he'd taken over the company. Before that even. Why hadn't he just realized that she was in love with him?

Why hadn't he realized what he could have had?

Tony's breath caught as Anna's eyes flickered closed and her body went slowly limp. She had fallen asleep, just as Thorin wrapped his arms around the Hobbit. Tony's own arms wrapped around the small women, much too small to be healthy, and he set the bowl they had eaten out of on the table, shuffling so he could pick her up. It was much too easy even with his healing scrapes and bruises. His teeth gnashed together at the thought of her small weight, barely heavy enough that she wouldn't just float away to spend her time in the Hobbit. Without him.

Gently, as his creation, JARVIS, turned off the TV in the room behind him and turned on the lights as he walked through the hallways, Tony carried her to his room, and if he could help it their room. He didn't want to wait any more.

He didn't want to waste whatever time they had left with each other, whether it is a year or ten, on wondering if he was reading her signs right or not. Tony was never really one for thinking first and then action. More of an action kind of guy.

As he set Anna down, under the covers, Tony didn't bother to take off the sweatpants he was in or the under shirt, although he did slip off his MIT ring. It was one of the few things he didn't just _pretend _to be proud of. Anna had been so proud of him for graduating, and so he'd be proud, if only to keep her proud.

He crawled in so that he could lay her across his chest. It felt so new, to have someone he cares about being in the room as he slept. His mother, who cared very little about him didn't bother. It had always been Anna but they hadn't done this since college. He couldn't remember these feelings being there then. And since college the only people that he'd ever had in his bed were the people he'd had sex with. Not that they counted, if you thought about it. Seeing as how they never stayed, and to be fair neither did he.

Tony shut his eyes, slowly drifting to sleep with Anna in his arms, and his heart.

**Okay, I know it was a little sudden but there it is. When I wrote Tony's POV I tried really hard to keep him as in character as I could get okay? It originally wasn't in her but the chapter was so short that I had to put it in there. Plus, I thought you might appreciate it because in my other stories everyone always wanted a different POV every so often.**

**So….there. **

**I'm working on the Thor one but I'm still not sure what's next in my plans. It'd be awesome if I could get Thor up at the same time that the sequel to this story came up, since I believe they happen at the same time. I don't know yet. We'll see. There will be more details as I go!**


	13. Hearing is Beliveing, Music is Decieving

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I questioned. For the last few days Tony and I hadn't seen a lot of each other. Clint and Natasha demanded to take up all of my time. I kind of understood since as long as I needed them they'd be stuck with me. I can imagine they didn't want to babysit me. On the better side I did have a better figure. I wasn't up to perfection but you'd be surprised what a few days of exercise, and cramming ensures and food in your mouth could do. My ribs were still visible but just a few of the top ridges. My stomach was slowly coming back to me.

"Yeah, what could go wrong?" Tony asked me, still making sure my leg boots were hooked up correctly. We were going to be testing out my balance in my boots while flying. So far I'd managed, with JARVIS' help to talk Tony out of the chest plate.

"A lot could go wrong." I stated. "Did you put the heated interior in?" I asked JARVIS as I stared at the hologram in front of us. The women's version of the suit was right next to Tony's. We were close to being done with the arms and the legs, but now we had to look at all of the outer circumstances.

"Stop worrying." Tony said, and JARVIS stayed silent. Rolling my eyes I used his shoulder to turn around, frowning and moving the boots. Reaching down I dug the end of my sweatpants out from in the boots.

"We'll need to make a suit for this. It makes the clothes stick to the skin because it's so tight." I told Tony as I released his shoulder, walking to the station we'd set up. A camera was in You's hand and a platform with markers was placed down on the ground, so we could accurately record the results.

"Agreed." Tony said, moving over to the table with the computer on it, so he could watch it. His own boots were on the table, and he didn't have handgrips, at least until we knew if we were right first. I muttered curses as I stepped into the middle of the black platform. "Are you ready?" He eyed my feet and I grinned at him.

"Yeah. You, start rolling." I told the robot, shuffling my feet. "Starting mark is half a meter back and center." I told the camera, holding on to the hand held controls.

"Dummy look alive, you're on fire safety." Tony said patting Dummy's arm.

"Are you sure we can't just have JARVIS control the fire extinguisher?" I begged but Tony smirked and stayed silent. I pouted and reached down, turning the power on of the machine, connecting it to the arc reactor in my chest. "Alright, activated hand controls."

"Start off at 10 percent thrust capacity." Tony called. I muttered and turned the dial up to ten percent. I took a deep breath and stuck my hands out, and swallowed. Glancing at Tony, who was watching me intensely and half smiling.

"Three, two, on-" I screamed as I pushed the buttons and instead of going straight up, as I was supposed to, the thrust capacity sent me flipping backwards. My scream was also cut short as I slammed into the pavement ceiling of the lab part of the shop. As I landed, my back got the brunt of the attack. As soon as I hit the ground a long groan left my mouth, only for Dummy to send the fire extinguisher on me.

I didn't know whether to groan again or beat somebody.

"Anna?" Tony called, and his voice sounded close but I was afraid to open my eyes, thinking that as soon as I did there would be extinguisher foam in my mouth. Instead I struggled to sit up, the muscles in my back to scream. They were already sore from Natasha and Clint's beatings yesterday. I puffed out some air to get the foam away from my mouth, using my hands to wipe it away as I stumbled up, tripping on the foam combined with the slippery metal of the boots.

Luckily Tony caught me. I rubbed the foam away from my eyes, trying to blink them open. "I think I just broke a rib." I whined, breathing heavy. "The hand controls, do _not_ work."

"Forget the hand controls. JARVIS run diagnostics." Tony said, pulling me along with him. I grumbled as my boots tried to grip the ground and the foam kept it from sticking steadily with the ground. It was most likely the steel of the boots.

"Madam seems to have a higher temperature and bruising along her back, as well as a sprung ankle." JARVIS, the filthy little A.I. ratted me out. I grunted as Tony plopped me down on the seat.

"That's a little extreme, JARVIS." I complained. "Can I have a rag to wipe this stuff off with, and maybe a wrench to dismantle dummy with?" I complained, moving my hand to my back to kneed at the hurt there. It indeed could have been bruised with how painful that was. Soon, after a lot of fumbling from Tony, a rag was placed into my hand. Though I did hear the chuckles coming out of his mouth no matter how much he tried to hide them.

Wiping away the remains of the white foam I grumbled and eyed the ruined set of handles. They weren't worth anything, which much had been made clear, but that didn't mean we could have recycled them for something. We'll just have to have JARVIS melt them down into something else, or to give them to some kind of charity. I can see it now, Tony Stark, crazy weaponless weapons providers gives away failed flight suit to charity.

"Are you alright Wendy?" Tony snickered through his palm and I glared at him while trying to rub away at the foam. It was really useless, because even if the foam did come out, there was grease caked into my shirt to match whatever I cleared off it.

"I might have broke my back." I groaned. "And I'm almost completely covered by foam. I swear I'd dismantle Dummy if he wasn't my little baby." I grumbled, standing up and walking towards the bathroom hidden off to the side of the room. "I'm going to take a bath. See what you can do to fix the problem, would you Casper?" I closed the door, and got to work trying to get the foam off of me but I was more focused on worrying.

Tony was acting so strange. With the movie a few nights ago, I was already on edge as it is but add to that the recent fact he cared. If I was being honest with myself early I would have admitted that Tony didn't care that much about me. He barely even bothered to laugh a little when I made a joke. Now, he was making my favorite ice cream, and watching my favorite movies with me. He was acting….like a boyfriend.

No, that isn't what's going on. Tony's had years to find interest in me. If anything he's done something I'm not going to like and is just trying to get on my good side. Yes, that makes more sense.

I took my time in getting the foam off of me. It was surprisingly hard to do, considering that it was only foam. I think I read somewhere that this stuff is toxic, so making sure to get the foam off of everywhere with no lingering puffs of the infernal stuff. Plus the grease was caked on me from working with the suit hands on. Everything that we'd tested that was correct was already being made by JARVIS. Hopefully we'd be finished soon.

As I shifted out of my shower and into some new clothes, a thick shirt from MIT and a red pair of skinny jeans. They at least looked good with grease on them, and at least now I could fit into them again.

The moment I was out of the bathroom, I stopped. Where was Tony? There was only one light on and I trudged over to it, and there he was, grinning over two drinks. One of them I could tell was a scotch and the other was rum. I could tell because the bottles were sitting on the desk behind him.

"I finished the design. It's using jet thrusters that we can put on our hands, so that it balances us out." Tony motioned to the 'construction' part of the lab. It was situated in the back where JARVIS could manufacture any parts we wanted, as long as he had the correct tools to do so. Knowing that JARVIS was there for us again made my heart feel warm. You never know how much you miss something until you don't have it any more. And he may have been an A.I. but he was one of the things I missed the most.

I could see the machines working patiently along in there and my eyebrows raised before I snorted and sat heavily down on the seat in front of what I supposed to be my drink. "You know I don't like to drink." I warned the man, even as I brought the alcohol up to my lips and tasted it. A noise of approval left my mouth, unintended but sincere. Just like Tony to get the best alcohol he can find, even when he doesn't drink rum.

"Uh-huh." Tony's eyebrow rose and he looked smug. In return, when he went to take a sip of his own drink, I tipped it. A puff of laughter left my mouth as he shot back, glaring down at the stain on his muscle shirt. It wasn't like it was noticeable, seeing as most of his shirts are stained. It wouldn't matter if this one was stained as well.

"Don't be smug." I laughed back to him, grinning in good humor, even as I retrieved a towel and throw it at him. To add insult to injury the towel was the same one that was covered in the fire extinguisher foam. Tony started cussing which led me to burst into giggles as he had to get up and grab a fresh towel from the basket next to the kitchen section.

"Yeah, yeah." Tony grunted, and I startled when he suddenly wrapped his arms around his own waist and pulled the shirt over his head. Without my permission, my eyes lingered on his flat, toned stomach before I hastily looked back up to his eyes, faking a cough.

"Jeez Tony, just let it all show." I teased, to cover my discomfort, or should I say my embarrassment. I mean, I'd seen his chest before; I've even put my hand into it, why was I so excited when he took it off.

"You just want a show." Tony retorted. I shuffled around, grabbing another; white muscle shirt from the laundry that was less stained, but would work for now. Throwing it at him, and taking the drink in hand I sighed.

"Please. If I wanted a show I'd take up with Channing Tatum." I grinned feral and lustily. "That is a showman." Tony scowled at me and went to respond but JARVIS interrupted.

"The arms are complete." JARVIS's voice was almost affectionate. Vaguely, as I moved to where the hand thrusters were waiting still in the holds of the machine, I realized that JARVIS missed us. He'd been programmed to have emotions but I didn't realize that he was that far evolved. I guess I really should pay more attention to my surroundings. I miss too many things about the people, or A.I.'s around me.

"Okay, whose did you make?" I asked Tony and my eyebrows rose as there were two pairs of pieces. "Huh, confident much?" I threw back to Tony who was grimacing at my back. "Ah, don't be a bad sport about him. He was a striper, okay? You can't beat that."

"I'm Tony Stark, and he's an actor." Tony grumbled. "I actually make people's lives better, and I'm gorgeous on top of that." He tried but I grinned widely. He was genuinely worried that Channing Tatum was better than him.

"Yeah, but you know, Channing Tatum makes _my _life better." I laughed and picked up the arm grip for me and the thrusters, carrying them out of the lab, with all of the attachments in my hands. "Don't get me wrong, _he _isn't my best friend but if I want to see anyone up on a pole, it's him." I sat them down on a table, clearing off a spot to set it up, frowning at it even as Tony brought his over to the table beside mine, next to the glass outside the workshop that led to the stairs, which brought you out into the living room.

"That's cruel. I'd look good on the pole." Tony complained, popping open his arm bands, frowning and sliding his arm into it. I grabbed a screwdriver, to help him screw it on.

"I'd be scared for life." I snorted, although the thought did kind of sicken me. I didn't know Channing Tatum, but I knew him so it made me kind of cautious. I really couldn't picture Tony like that and honestly I hope he never gets that drunk. Alright, mostly because he wouldn't know what he was doing but still. I moved to connect the arc reactor with the arm band so it could get its energy from the reactor.

"You'd enjoy every moment of it." Tony challenged, and I turned as Pepper put in her code, allowing herself in. I rolled my eyes as Tony had trouble fitting the actual thruster part on. The rest of it was to keep the wires in, and to support his arm in the air, and with the power of the thruster. Helping him, I worked the band onto his hand. It would be the best we could do for now, until we actually got the materials for our suites. We had most of what we need but not all of it.

"Yeah, I'd take pictures and you'd be on every magazine." I teased, letting my hand linger more than really needed but I turned, smiling when Pepper spoke in return.

"Not that he isn't already." She wasn't even looking at Tony and I, instead she was looking down at the things she carried. I glanced back down, using the screwdriver still in my hand and helping to screw down the grips. In her hands she held two boxes, one small and the other I recognized and my lips twitched in smothered delight. It seems my gift for Tony was finally in. The small one I didn't know what was, as it was kind of rectangular but I stopped thinking about it in lee of Dummy who was trying to refill my glass of rum. Almost absentmindedly I took the bottle from him with an affectionate pat. As useless as Dummy usually was, he was still part of mine and Tony's robotic family.

"I've been buzzing you two, over the intercom." Pepper told me. My eyebrows rose and I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't hear it, I was in the shower." I told her. Tony didn't even have to answer because he almost never answers when she calls for him. "What is it?"

"Obadiah is upstairs." Pepper told us, scooting the boxes onto the table. "He came back from New York." She told us, handing me out a stack of papers and pointing to a place to sign. I vaguely read over it before taking the pen she was holding out and signing. I took another swallow of my drink "What would you like me to tell him?"

"We'll be upstairs." Tony said, finished with fixing the arm and he rose up with it, careful not to bend the freshly done hinges that connected the two arm pieces, the upper and lower arm. I stepped back, and over to the boxes so that I could observe it, to see if I could see anything I didn't want, but unfortunately, or fortunately, it was covered in the plain brown paper I'd ordered. I didn't want Tony to throw it away, and I didn't want to give it to him just by myself. I mean it wouldn't be seen as me showing my affections would it?

I sighed and looked over to Pepper who was standing attentively and watching Pepper. There was something strange about it though. Pepper was staring at Tony's arc reactor, but not curiously. I would understand that she would be curious about it or even a little scared at it but she was staring as if she was trying to dissect it. I hadn't put much thought into my suspicion in the last few days, because I was so busy but this was strange. Her eyes were so intent, and seemed to be tracing every bit of the reactor.

Why? Surely, after so many days, or weeks, in our presence, would she be so into the reactors now of all times? And the fact that Obadiah was here, after weeks was suspicious in and of itself. Before the cave he never really visited either. We would see him on the red carpet or at events but never did he visit.

My instincts were on high alert. But even as they were, I tried to let them talk. After all Tony was supposedly in love with Pepper, so why not let him have some time with her? He has to be tired of me by now.

"…done making weapons." Pepper's voice flooded through my train of thought and I blinked, almost flushing as I realized that I had zooned out again. I picked up the small box and curiously opened, then rolled my eyes as I realized it was a 'welcome home' gift from someone. Gossip must have gotten out because he had a note to me.

"I am – or we are." Tony said, gesturing to me and I raised both my eyebrows, looking up from the envelope with my name written on it in pretty cursive. Strangely Pepper didn't even look back at me. Well, maybe she was finally into Tony. Lord knows Tony's been lying the flirting on thick, when they interacted. I guess. Lately I haven't even seen Tony with Pepper while I'm here.

What if he knows I like him but Pepper and he don't want to hurt my feelings, so they hide it while I'm in sight. No, that's just paranoia. "This is a flight stabilizer." Tony continues and my lip twitched as Tony started to prepare to turn it on. I would warn him to turn it down but I did get punched into the ceiling, and covered in extinguisher foam today. "It's completely harmless." He pushed the button and I heard it start charging and then suddenly Tony was pushed backwards when the thruster went off. Both Pepper and I jumped, but I almost fell over with laughter as Tony sat there stunned.

"I didn't expect that." Tony breathed out, and my laughter got more high pitch as I tried to move over to help him without falling over. "It's not funny, I could have broken something." Tony whined and my laughter dissolved into giggles as I grabbed his hands, pulling him up and let him balance himself before I tugged up his grey shirt, poking at his ribs.

"I doubt it; you landed on the chair you were throwing away." I teased, dropping the shirt. "You didn't break anything but I bet that's going to be sore in the morning." I told him, grinning at Pepper who huffed and started back up the stairs.

"You're so loving." Tony taunted, shuffling back to the table, grabbing the screwdriver. I rolled my eyes and moved to get the arm disconnected to the arc reactor, tugging it off. "I can feel your care for me from here."

"I'm right beside you, of course you can." I commented back, setting the reactor connecter down on the table. "JARVIS, can you put an oxygen tank in the back of our suits, in the empty spots, please. I was thinking that sometimes they might be useful." I noted, walking towards the stairs. Tony wasn't far behind, although a few steps. He had to get the arm off and rest it on the grips made for it, to keep it in pristine condition. "What does Obadiah want anyways?" I asked him, waiting at the door for him to catch up so he could go first.

"Uh, we might have missed a board of director's meeting." Tony muttered, passing me while wiping off his hands on a rag. Surprise was swiftly followed by irritation.

"Seriously, Tony?" I asked him, while he walked up the stairs, preferring it over the elevator. "You couldn't have told me there was going to be a board of directors meeting? Is it too much trouble?"

"Hey, we own most of the stock. What do they own, five percent?" Tony answer in defense. I scowled at him, 3even as we came into the living room. Tony's fake waterfall was going strong and delicate lights were lighting up the house. Pepper was on the couch, where she had practically set up shop, but Obadiah was not. He was at the piano, which was a present from Mary Stark in hope that Tony would want to learn to play. Poor Mary didn't get to see Tony actually play it for her. Of course I think that it was only another way for her to keep Tony occupied while she slept around. But alas.

"So how did it go?" Tony called out to Obadiah, but walked towards the couches. Rolling my eyes I followed him, and raising my eyebrows at the pizza laying there. There was a place in New York that makes the best pizza, cheese, and though it was very good it was in a hole in the wall place. Obadiah only went there when something happened.

"It went that bad, huh?" Tony said, swooping down having made the same conclusion as me. As he opened it I startled him by swooping in as well and grabbing a slice from over his shoulder. I bit into it as he grabbed one, rolling his own chocolate eyes at me. I didn't mention that I was also giddy to have been pressed so close to his back, or watching his ass as he walked up the stairs in front of me. Those were things that Tony didn't necessarily need to know about me.

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad." Obadiah said, still playing. Tony snorted and bit into his own pizza, speaking around it.

"Yeah, sure. Oh, boy." Tony muttered, moving to sit on the other side of me while Pepper was on the other side. I slumped down into the seat and eat another bite.

"It would have went better if you two were there." Obadiah told them, picking up the drink that he had set down on the piano and taking a long swig.

"Uh-uh," Tony interrupted me as I went to talk, and probably blame it all on him. "You told us to lay low, that is what we've been doing. We lay low, and then you take care of everything…" Tony kept going even though I swiped his napkin from him. Obadiah came down the steps from the piano's risen platform and to us.

"Come on, in public, the press. This was a board of directors meeting." Obadiah said, gesturing by moving his glass forward.

"This was a board of directors meeting?" Tony answered in false surprise.

"Shut up, Tony." I ordered, starting to eat the crust on my piece. He turned and made a face at me for calling him out on his lie.

"The board," Obadiah interrupted us before we could get started. "Is claiming posttraumatic stress. They're filing an injunction." Obadiah told us. My anger spiked and I gripped the napkin in my hand to the point of anger.

"What?" The word tumbled out of my mouth. "We own, together, at least ninety percent of the company. They don't have the authority to do this." I leapt up, staring down at Obadiah.

"They want to lock you out." Obadiah sighed but it was almost forced.

"The stocks dipped 40 points so, what. We knew that was going to happen." Tony insisted. The burning anger in his eyes was barely restrained.

"Fifty-six and a half. Lower than it's ever been." Pepper quietly cut in, her eyes connecting with Obadiah's. My anger leaked out to involve her as well. We had both been raised to do nothing more than lead this company. True, he'd been raised for Stark Industries and I'd been raised for Vinci™ but the idea is still there. I grabbed another slice of pizza, biting into it angrily, almost smashing my tongue between my white teeth.

"It doesn't matter." Tony rejected, turning to Pepper. "We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights to." Obadiah said, sitting down on the table next to the pizza that still, even in anger, tasted great. Who did these people think we are? They've never even really cared about what comes out of us before. We handed them new inventions left and right and all they did was eagerly take it. All those lives destroyed and they had been _happy _with it. "They're making the case that you and your new direction, and Annabella's…compliance isn't in the company's best interest."

"Compliance?" I echoed, the rage almost tangible in the air now. They act as if I don't have a fucking _brain_ in my skull.

"I'm being responsible!" Tony's shoulders had tightened with his own anger while I muttered, taking a large bite of my slice of pizza, chomping noisily on my cheese and dough. "That's a new direction for me," Tony noticed his mistake a little too late. "For the company." I rolled my eyes, taking my slice and one more for good measure before I stomped towards the stairs so that I could go back down stairs.

"I mean me on the company's behalf…" Tony turned to Pepper to try and get some back up but as his only back up, I was his only option. And I was leaving the room. "You know what, this is great." I heard him jerk something off of the table, probably the box of pizza. I waited impatiently at the beginning of the steps.

"Oh, come on, Tony, Annabella." I scowled at Obadiah, angry. If I could I'd send Natasha on him, and Clint on Pepper. Maybe Pepper would be left off easy but Nat would kill Obadiah. I couldn't wait for the morning, when I would go and practice again. I could let off a lot of steam right now.

"I'll be in the shop." Tony called, motioning to me and then back to them, as if to say 'can you believe this?' and it made me smirk but not smile. I was too angry to smile.

"Hey, listen Tony." Obadiah jumped up, pretty spry for an old guy if I do say so myself. He placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, pulling him back so he could speak with him. I dropped down a few steps in a hurry to get out of the messenger's presence I guess you could say. "I'm trying to turn this thing around but you got to give me something. Something to pitch them." Obadiah whittled. "Let me have the engineers have a look at you and Annabella's reactors." My suspicion soon took over my anger in a flash. Why would he want the arc reactor?

With the suspicions I already had of Obadiah was it really such a jump for me to think that he was trying to get at our reactors. "No." I stated, making Obadiah look at me. His anger was only there for a second but I could still see it.

"Just give me something to throw them." He pleaded.

"Absolutely not. Obbie, this one stays with Anna and I." Obadiah was furious as Tony walked past him to me. In revenge he grabbed the box of pizza from his hands.

"Alright, then this stays with me." Obadiah said, and then he sighed. "Go on, here you can have a piece. Annabella." He told me. I had already eaten threw the slice I'd been eating, and was half way through my other one. So I jumped the steps and took another as Tony passed me.

"You mind if I come down there and see what you two are doing?" I rolled my eyes and walked down the stairs behind Tony.

"Good night Obbie." Tony called up behind us.

**Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry if I haven't done anything with your review. I've been really busy all of a sudden. I'm actually off to a drama banquet. It's kind of an awards ceremony for the cast and crew of the play my community put on. I'm actually up for an award but I know who I'm against and it isn't looking pretty. Fingers crossed!**


	14. Hard as Lightning, Soft as Candlelight,

"…Test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option dummy is still on fire safety." Tony listed off as I scowled on the platform again.

"Why am I the one doing this?" I complained as Tony moved around, checking our statistics on the screen and our suits. They were almost perfectly ready, or planned out if you will.

"Because you wouldn't make your suit look like a woman." Tony shot back.

"That was not a woman. That was giving me implants, Tony." I fired off, nervously checking to make sure my arm thrusters were okay, and then the boots. "There was no reason for them to be that big – and don't start off with the argument about the capabilities of hiding weapons there either. I will not be some Austin Powers bimbo."

"You are missing a lot of potential there." Tony told me, but he let it slide as he moved forward, rechecking the cable connections.

"I would have overbalanced with how large you tried to make those things." I said, frowning at the back of his head as he moved off the platform. Dummy was sitting off to the side, trying his hardest to stay vigilant.

"If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." I pointed at him in weariness. His one arm, that we'd attached a fire extinguisher to, seemed to drop. "Alright, might as well start. Starting at just one percent thrust capacity this time." My breath came quick as the reminder of the hurt that came with slamming back against the ceiling. Bending my knees, and putting my hands out flat with bent elbows.

"Three, two," Tony started counting for me, in his own outerwear. We were almost sure this was going to work so after my test flight we decided to put armor on it. "One." I hit the button on the side, and squeaked as the thrusters kicked on.

My weight was suddenly lifted in a tentative, if not feeble, balance. I screwed up my face as I moved the thrusters on my arms in a tentative and kind of instinctual balance. Then I clicked the button again and dropped. We might want to replace the button so that it only charges when we flex our fingers.

"Wow." Tony muttered, walking up to me, fiddling with something in his hands. "That looked fine." I looked past him and scowled as Dummy pointed the extinguisher at me, following my minute movements.

"Please, don't follow me around with it either I feel like I'm going to eventually catch on spontaneous fire." I told Dummy, turning back to Tony. "Yeah, it's a bit shaky but I imagine it'll be fine after a while of getting used to it." My mouth twitched into a half smile as Dummy flopped his arm back down. Poor boy just wanted to please.

"Let's bring it up to 2.5. Do you want me to do this one?" Tony asked, backing away.

"Na, I've got this." I told him, sighing before taking a deep breath and pushing the button and squeaking again because this time, though I went up I also wobbled around. "Ah," I muttered crossly, trying to take a deep breath and not panic. My arms wobbled and trying to move was hard.

"Not the cars!" Tony called after me. I winced and couldn't stop it as I balanced on the thrusters on my feet, and tried to move my arms without hurting his cars. I was especially careful as I went over my own car. Finally I put my hands up, causing me to stop in place and then move in the other direction. Unfortunately I did move over a table and send plenty of Tony's, old, papers flying. Finally I made it back over the platform with a watchful Tony standing over to the side, out of the way.

I straightened my body, allowing the power to quit out little by little as I pushed the button down. I stumbled a little bit as my legs settled on the ground, the boots keeping me grounded.

"Yay!" My voice called out after a moment, but my smile faltered as Dummy followed me, and then picked up as if he was going to shoot me. "No!" I yelled, pointing a finger at him. He deflated again and I let out a breath and grinned at Tony.

"We can fly!" I squealed, running, a bit slower, and wrapped my arms around Tony and laughing. "Just wait until I get into the sky!" I told him. He grinned at me, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Why thank you." I rolled my eyebrows, stepping instead back onto the platform so that JARVIS could do the next part. "JARVIS activate armor system." We'd already made the armor itself, but now we just needed it to be attached, and then color it. Tony stepped up to the platform but I couldn't watch him try out his flying because I was busy with the arms that came out of the floor, like we'd made them, and attached silver pieces of alloy that made up the armor. I groaned as I was jerked around, jerking when it almost jerked my arm off.

"JARVIS." Tony's voice went off, and I glanced over, as JARVIS finished putting my armor on besides the face plate. The face plate itself was supposed to be angry looking, that way it was intimidating. I couldn't help but think it kind of symbolized all that we were angry about. All of those soldiers that died because of us…

"JARVIS load yourself into the system, please." I called, fixing the faceplate onto my face. After a few moments of checking to make sure that JARVIS was completely set up inside I was ecstatic. I moved around, trying to get the feel of the armor and was amazed at how well it fit. After all, I'd never been inside more than the arms and the boots. Of course, none of the weapons were in this suit. All that was in this suit was the comforts. And by comforts of course I mean the heated interior, the oxygen tanks in case of death via water and of course the detailed joint rotations.

Trying it out I turned around in the suit, pleased with the reactions to my movements, and the way the heavy armor followed. That had been hard to calculate. After all, how fast did I need the reaction time to be and how fast could I get it? While turning my eyes met the sight of Tony in his own suit. Even as JARVIS showed me information in the edges of the two screens that were the eyeholes I locked onto the sight of Tony. My suit had already run diagnostics, and checked the control surfaces but his was just now doing so. I watched as pieces of the armor came up and worked around.

"That is awesome." I admitted to myself, and grinned when Tony's head turned to me.

"Yeah, I kind of enforce that awe everywhere I go." He stated and I heard him through the speaker connected right next to my ear. So he must have set up the communication feed already, while I was busy being in amazement.

"Preparing to power down and do a diagnostics check." JARVIS' voice came through, slightly muffled from Tony's connection.

"Uh tell you what, do a weather and ATC check." Tony said, clenching his fists and looking to see the reaction of the thrusters and the hand's guards.

"Tony…" I started.

"Anna." He mocked. "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk." He said and before I could cut in to say anything he started up and out, via the garage ramp. I stumbled back in my suit with the backlash of his take off.

"Tony! When I get my hands on you…." I muttered, flipping my hands up in an exasperated fashion.

"Well, to do that you'd have to come get me." Tony taunted and I nervously clenched my own hands together before sighing.

"Alright, fine." I called back, my anger getting the best of me, and using the tightening of my hands I started my own thrusters. It took me a moment to get my balance but then I leant forward. The squeal that came out of my throat wasn't intentional but as I had to move my own body to keep from crashing into the sides of the garage ramp, I felt it was entirely reasonable. As soon as I was out I went straight up, bracing my feet together and moving my arms to follow Tony. He was twirling around in the air a little bit out over the water.

"Ha!" He exclaimed, seeing me. I'd given him just what he wanted.

"I hate you." I muttered, while I fumbled trying to get a grip on the way my suit worked.

"No you don't." Tony reacted. "Come on you're having fun."

"That doesn't mean I particularly like you right now." I returned, flying around in a twirl and I couldn't suppress the grin that took its place on my face. All those times I wondered what it would be like to fly without the help of a plane and here I am.

"Aw…" Tony pouted, I could tell. Even without seeing his face I knew he was pouting.

"It does handle like a dream though." I admitted, smirking when Tony came up to fly beside me as we rounded the carnival that was stationed on the Malibu pier. I never could remember what that was called.

I chuckled as JARVIS slid in a close-up of the little boy on the Ferris wheel who licked his ice cream right off its cone in surprise. Tony veered off from me to follow the highway and I dove between lots of skyscrapers, staring through to see the late workers who were still in their offices, oblivious to the woman flying outside of their windows.

"All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's the SR-71's record?" I heard Tony ask JARVIS.

"Tony?" I called, turning upwards at a dime so that I could get out from between the skyscrapers. To my surprise Tony's suit was going straight up towards the moon.

"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir." JARVIS answered.

"JARVIS, don't encourage him." I answered, flying up a little higher before stalling a few hundred feet above the closest skyscraper. "Tony, don't even think about it."

"Records are made to be broken. Come on!" Tony begged, and I hesitated there where I was.

"This isn't a good idea Tony. We didn't calculate for-" I started and shrieked when JARVIS announced the ice buildup. "If you do not turn that armor around, I will not be liable for the death that follows!" I called, knowing that it was the biggest lie. Anxiously I watched as Tony went higher and higher towards the full moon. An even larger shriek came out of my mouth as Tony's communication went down and I saw his suit start to falter. I kicked my suit into high gear, racing to reach him as he fell.

About three hundred more feet in the air and my arms locked around Tony, causing us to tumble for a few feet as the leg thrusters had to take over my direction from my hand thrusters, plus the extra weight of Tony. Fumbling for his hip I used the manual controls to break the ice with the flaps at his hip. So that I wouldn't get hit I released him at the same time.

For a panicked moment I watched him drop farther, as I got my hand thrusters back under me, but then JARVIS took back over the suit and Tony's thrusters kicked to life. I followed him as he shot up from the highway that almost became his death sentence. He was screaming in joy, the communications had come back up but I huffed.

"Like a child." I muttered, even though the sense of excitement had not left me but intensified. "I swear." I turned my suit back towards Tony's house, making sure to follow Tony's movements.

"Thanks, by the way. Nice flying." Tony sniffed, and I could practically hear the grin on his face. My own grin twitched but it couldn't become bigger as I twirled my body, rolling it over and over in the air as I got ready to land.

"Yeah, yeah. JARVIS log the icing and search for viable solutions to the problem." I said, watching as first Tony went down to land. Letting him go first seemed the easier option.

"Kill power." He said and the moment it left his mouth I knew he was going to regret it. Even as he fell through the roof of the building and down through the other floors I couldn't control the laughter. I leisurely flew, instead of landing on the roof, back through the garage ramp and I got there just in time to see Dummy use the fire extinguisher on Tony. If it was even possible my laughter increased.

"JARVIS, let's slowly kill power." I told him, straightening out right over the platform that would take my suit off. Having learnt from Tony's mistake, my landing was great. I was still giggling even as JARVIS controlled the arms taking the suit off turning almost painful. "Ow, JARVIS keep it calm." I warned, as he took off the abdomen and then finished with the boots, retracting into the floor but leaving the parts put together on a set up right next to the arms. I huffed and glanced around for Tony to realize that he had removed himself from the car that he had completely destroyed and was now getting his own armor taken off.

I moved over to the hologram table and the computer. "JARVIS, can you pull up the notes?" I asked politely as I dropped into a swivel chair. "And you might want to get a bag of ice for Tony. I'm sure that was more than a little painful, considering." Opening up the information that JARVIS took I worked around with it, taking notes to implement in my final suit. The chuckled that left my mouth upon reading the input about Tony going up into the outer atmosphere. "JARVIS, do me a favor and let's log that. I want to make the suit capable of going out in the universe someday." I told him, looking for something to drink.

"Yes, ma'am. May I also warn that both of your trainers are waiting?" JARVIS supplied. I groaned and got up, searching for a jacket. I didn't want to get the crap beat out of myself tonight.

"Tony, I have to go, try to work on the icing problem." I called, looking up and around for him. He was coming back from the kitchen with his ice pack stuck to his head. He grimaced and passed by the brown box with my present in it. Unnoticeably my cheeks flushed when he stopped by it. Before he could open it in my presence I walked swiftly to my unharmed car and got in, driving off.

**Not really that much development in here I guess. Tell me what you think!**


	15. Dare you trust the Music of the Night

As I was driving I was also given some very horrible news and it was completely out of the blue.

"-and you have to come." Pepper finished. I sighed in frustrated defeat as the light in front of me turned red, again. I'd been sitting at this red light for at least thirty minutes. The traffic was horribly backed up and on top of that Pepper had called me to tell me that I had to show up at the charity ball we were throwing. Up until this point going to the thing hadn't been a option, seeing as I'd supposed to be laying low.

"So, let me get this straight." I started, pulling out and turning down a back road so I could speed up and get to my destination faster, my house. "Because you put on the invitations, my name, I have to come? Pepper, that's not very solid reasoning." I complained, pushing farther down on the gas pedal. Her voice was coming through my car, so that I wouldn't get stopped for talking on my cell phone while driving. Actually, if a cop were to see how fast I was going, I would probably be stopped anyways.

"I'm sorry, it's just everyone is starting to show up and they are asking around for you and Mr. Stark. I can't control him, and you are so good with mingling with the rich people." Pepper tried again. Really, I couldn't understand why she wanted me to go when I was supposed to be laying low. Something tells me nothing good is going to be coming out of going. But what choice did I really have? If I didn't go then she'd have to be left there to explain away my absence, when technically it was me who had planned the entire charity event.

"Fine, but I'm not going to be happy about this." I gave in, even if it sounded like the worst thing I could possibly be doing, hanging up and pulling into my driveway I almost groaned. I don't know how to explain to Nat and Clint that I had to go off to do rich people stuff. Clint already teased me relentlessly about being rich. If I have to hear one more wise-crack about my shower having more faucets then a fountain I am going to stick a literal hawk on his head and hope for the best.

Parking in my garage, I got out, moving fast to get in and get a dress. If Pepper thinks I'm going the whole nine yards, then she is sadly mistaken. Walking into the living room I frowned and eyed the two people waiting there.

"Nat, Clint." I greeted, moving forward a few steps to swipe at the popcorn they were sharing as they watched some kind of movie on my TV screen. Chomping on some I watched what they were for a moment. It was that Johnny Depp movie that I missed when I was in Afghanistan. "I can't train tonight." I finally spoke. Clint glanced behind me, waving his hand.

"Yeah, whatever." He muttered, shoving another handful into his mouth. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, enjoy my free food." I called back to him as I moved swiftly up the stairs and to my room.

"We will!" Clint called up the stairs behind me. Cheeky little bastard. I chuckled, going into my closet and searching for the formal dresses, finding them in the back, zipped up in dress bags.

"Alright JARVIS, I don't have a lot of time here, so can you please point me to a dress appropriate for the annual firefighters family fund." I instructed, eyeing the many bags. Most of them hadn't even been warn yet. Some of them were gifts from designers, as thanks for making their collection so popular. Suddenly one of them came out on its rail and I chuckled, moving forward to see what JARVIS picked for me.

"A gift from Mr. Stark."

It was gold, and gorgeous. The dress flowed like it nearly was going to drop off of my body. I took my other clothes off, and pulled the dress on. I took a moment to appreciate the body that Nat and Clint had pounded into me. The dress had a small train, where it pooled sharply at the back of me, even though the front was rather short. I would have to watch that while I danced, because I'm positive some fool will step on it. It has been known to happen. I moved out of the closet and over to my bathroom where a special spot for formal make up and a cabinet for my jewelry, was placed.

Putting on my makeup took a little longer then I liked, seeing as how I'd mostly forgotten the practice, but I got it. The jewelry was quicker, picking up a golden bracelet that looked like literal gold spun to intertwine, and a matching clip to hold my longer bangs up. I was proud to say that my hair was growing. After that all I had to do was grab a few things, like my cellphone and a set of car keys.

I wasn't going to take my Lamborghini, instead I started out for my very ostentatious Ferrari, with my signature scrawled on the side. This car was used, specifically for when I wanted to be noticed. If I had to go to this thing, I was going to do so in style.

And boy did I. As soon as my car pulled up there was a scramble from the valets. I was pleased to see that while I wasn't the last to arrive fashionably late, I didn't have to wait in line. So when I did arrive it was with a nice entrance. When the valet opened my door I followed my dress, pooling out of the car like water. Standing up I smiled through a pair of sunglasses that had been left in the car, guarding them from the flashes of the cameras. I dropped them after the cameras flashes went down, tossing them back into the car.

"Ma'am?" The valet asked, quietly. I smiled and handed him a key.

"Thank you." I told him, as I picked up the dress to step up onto the red carpet. Walking smoothly through the crowds, I ignored the scream of my name from the reporters, continuing to smile. I did stop where I was wanted; posing so they could get pictured for their tabloids and gossip magazines. Everything for the fans.

"…no one expected her to show up! It's rumored that she and Tony Stark have been living together since their return. No one knows if it's true but I think the fact she came alone should be enough." A reporter's voice was just loud enough to hear. A blonde and speaking directly into the camera. I wanted nothing more than to roll my eyes at her, but I settled for walking by her and subtly jerking on her jacket, just as another actor passed. She tumbled but when she turned around there was no one there to blame, as I was walking up the steps to go inside.

These reporters were just like sharks. You give them even an inch, and you have no idea how much they will screw up your reputation. Sighing I allowed myself to be pointed into the ball room, rolling my eyes for real when I saw all of the high society people walking around. How many of these people had insulted me through the years and then turned around expecting me to fund them? I moved through them, laughing and shaking hands with the society girls, and taking the compliments and mincing words with the men. All superficial words, or even them asking for me to fund something.

Finally I found Pepper in a blue dress, that made her look alright. I still thought she looked better in just jeans and a shirt but you can't come to them in these things. "I ought to murder you for this." I hissed to her back. She jumped, laughing and getting out of her current conversation so that she could herd me over to stand where no one could hear us.

"Please, they've been asking me questions I couldn't answer all night." She begged, but there was something in her eyes, and she was taking a sip from her champagne glass that was more like a gulp. "Just tell me something that I can tell them. Like that." She pointed at the arc reactor that was peeking through my shirt. "Give me something that I can give them." Pepper begged but my eyes narrowed. Both Obadiah and Pepper have _specified _the arc reactor. What was going on here?

"No. Pepper, this one is just with Tony and I." I argued, keeping my words soft and my face softer, in case there were any hidden reporters crashing the party. "If you give them anything, just tell them it's private. That's it. I don't need to tell them anything." I brushed her off just as she started to argue, instead heading for the bar.

"How can I help you?" The bartender asked me as I approached. It was male and to my surprise he was flirting. How odd. It had been so long since I'd been around someone who flirted, well and meant it. Technically Tony was flirting but the man didn't mean it.

"Well you can start by getting me a glass of rum on the rocks." I told him, smirking when he grinned at me.

"Excuse me." I heard and a light touch on my arm. I turned, expecting another man wanting to get into my wallet but instead I was met with someone who just stank of Strategic Homeland….I really needed to shorten that.

"Yes?" I asked, even as I eyed him. It wasn't a stretch to guess he was from my company, simply because he wasn't wearing a tux. The outfit he had on was more of an everyday thing for him, I could tell. Plus, he didn't have one of those bowties on but instead a simple tie. Anyways, he was just like Clint and Nat were at first, or Nat still was really. Stuffy, and walking kind of predator like.

"I'm Agent Coulson from…" He started and it clicked. My polite smile widened into a sincere grin that cut him off in surprise.

"Yeah, I know you." I told him, taking the drink that had been prepared for me and sending a wink at the bartender who looked put out that I was talking to another male. "From Strategic Homeland so and so. We really need something else for that." I teased kindly. His facial expression didn't change much, just a slight tilt to his mouth. Ah, he was one of those who took his work to serious.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Linguistics Division." He supplied and I shook my head. "We get that a lot."

"Jeez, I don't know what my father and Howard were thinking." I joked, smiling at him politely. "What can I do for you Agent?" I asked, keeping my voice pleasant as I tried to remember if I'd bothered to read his file. He seemed familiar and I wanted to say that I had. He didn't look anything special, but that could be deceiving. I mean Nat looked small enough to be my size and yet she could kill you without messing up a curl on her head.

"I know this must be a trying time for you and Mr. Stark but we need to debrief you." Agent Coulson told me. He had his arms together in front of him, his hands clasped and I could help but think it looked natural on him. He probably did it a lot then. I took another long sip of my drink before sitting it on the bar for the forgettable bartender who still looked to be sulking.

"Uh, you shouldn't hold your breath, Agent Coulson. Agents Romanoff and Barton have already tried, very hard, to get me to confess." I grinned at him, but then my eyes caught on to something that made them widen. Pepper and Obadiah were almost arguing at each other. I could tell because of the flaring of Pepper's nostrils and Obadiah's tightened crow's feet. Other than that they looked to be having a simple, if not strained conversation. "Listen, I like you, but I've got a problem to deal with over there." I told him. "Put something on the books with Ms. Potts, and I'll see if I can't get Tony to come." I put my hand out there and he shook it, looking slightly confused.

Moving slowly over to the two arguing people, without being noticed was not the easiest thing to do, but when you grow up in the high society it becomes second nature. I can still remember the pain in my cheeks from them being pinched by people when I was littler.

"…what did you want me to do about it?" Pepper hissed through her smiling teeth. "She didn't want to give it up and I can't get it out of her here."

"Are you even trying?" Obadiah demanded and my eyebrows came together, as I pretended to be looking out at the view, standing hidden behind a silent couple who were 'basking' in each other's presence. "If we don't get those reactors we won't get any money." My eyes widened and I almost choked on my own spit.

To suspect it and have it confirmed are to separate demons.

"Why do we have to do this anyways?" Pepper demanded. "Once the injunction goes through you'll have control of the company and I can be your heir." I grabbed a champagne glass from a passing waiter and took a long sip. So they were after the company then. How…painful. Suspicions against reality.

Why?

Had we not been kind to them? I thought they were our friends and that they genuinely liked Tony and I. Okay, so Tony was questionable, and I wasn't as close to them as I thought but…I let out a breath, rubbing my forehead lightly, so as not to make it to noticeable.

"Just get it done." Obadiah nearly barked back before I saw him shuffle away. Pepper grimaced and -took another sip from her own champagne glass. Realizing I wasn't going to find out anything else, I moved out from my hiding space, to be accosted by somebody surprising.

"Tony?" I asked, not believing my eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"You look fantastic, I almost didn't recognize you." Tony said, not answering my question. "How long has it been since I've seen you in a dress?" He was so charming. And just like he hadn't seen me in a dress, I hadn't seen him in a tux. He looked magnificent of course. His hair was brushed into his perfect style, his beard trimmed and his eyes glittering.

"Uhm, a few months I'd say." I answered, unsure as to whether I should point out that he was avoiding the topic. He seemed to realize my problem but just grinned through it. "Tony, honestly, you are supposed to be laying low." I chided, glancing around. "Are you by yourself?"

"Yes." Was his automatic answer and I looked at him in surprise. Forget how long it's been since we've seen each other in formal wear, how long has it been since Tony came alone? I could count the amount of times that's happened on one hand.

"Where did you get that dress?" Tony asked, trying to direct me away from the knowledge. I'm sure my expression had showed my surprise. Tony always made it hard to control my expressions.

"You?" I questioned tightly. "Tony…"

"I have great taste." He cut me off and I swallowed as he took my hand. "Want to dance?"

"Ah, no I don't-"

"Too bad." He answered, tugging me out to where everyone was dancing slowly in the middle of the room. No one was being out of control or even dancing fast. It didn't matter that we were doing what every other couple was doing, all that mattered to these people was the fact that I was walking out with my best friend to dance, and that man just happened to be the great womanizer Tony Stark.

"This is a bad idea." I hissed to him, stressing it even as he curled his warm arms around my waist and tugged me close. Great. He wasn't even going to try to make it formal. My cheeks must have been scarlet because the warmth of his arms around my waist, and his chest pressed against mine, was enough to make me flush. My breath came shorter as I began to panic.

"Just relax. We've danced before." Tony argued, moving us in small circles.

"They already think we're living together." I argued. "There was a reporter earlier-"

"I know. I saw it." He told me, and I smiled softly as he grinned at me. We were to close together to be anything but intimate. His forehead was brushing mine, and his hips aligned with my own. He had us pressed together from head to hips. It made me nervous because I was so content in his arms. Somehow it seemed different then when we slept in the same bed. Then we were just trying to sleep because we were used to it. Now he was…purposefully making it intimate. Was he?

Didn't he like Pepper? I don't understand.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Tony asked, finally acknowledged, or halfway anyways, that I did not agree to this. I tried my hardest to calm my breaths and not shutter when his thumb moved, stroking my back through the thin flowing fabric.

"If I said yes, would you stop?" I asked, and my mouth twitched as I met his eyes. They were literally almost sparking with some emotion that I wasn't getting. I didn't understand what was going on, what it was that I was missing.

"Nope. If I fired you, would that help?" Tony asked, smirking. I couldn't help the soft laugh that bubbled up through my throat.

"Please. First of all, you don't have the authority. Second of all, you wouldn't be able to function without me." I said, smiling and unconsciously following his lead as he twirled us sharply.

"I'd make it a week." Ever the confident person told me, looking around and smiling even as I did to and realized we were being 'society' stared at. It's basically staring, when you act as if you are not but all the same they weren't being very subtle about it.

"Ah, you think so?" I asked him, giggling when he tightened his hold for my cheeky response. "What's your social security number?" I dug my fingers lightly in the hair at the base of his skull. He grunted and made a face and I giggled at it.

"Five." He told me, meeting my eyes again.

"Five?" I laughed at him and his infectious grin came back on his handsome face. "I think you're missing a few numbers there." Combing my hand through his hair, my fingers nearly melted at the softness of his hair. Was I being to grabby? It was so easy to be with him like this that I forgot.

"Well I have you for the other eight." Tony muttered, quietly. I was the only one who would be able to hear it and still it made my cheeks, which had been calming down, flush again. My heart quickened and I met his eyes as I felt his arc reactor press against my collarbone. The flush slowly left my cheeks but it didn't mean my brain stopped. Was this happening? He was staring at me and then his eyes would dart down and I realized with an excited thump of the heart that he was staring at my lips. Without thinking I swiped my tongue over my lips, covered with red lipstick.

"Would you like some air?" Tony asked interrupting my lustful thoughts, and I blinked, smiling.

"Yes, I would love some air." I told him, letting him step away and take my hand, guiding me to a hidden balcony in the concert hall. The room here was suddenly stifling and full of people. The whispers followed us as we ducked out of the room and walked silently down the hall and to a balcony. The entire time he kept his hand in mine, our fingers twined together.

"That went well." Tony commented, on our dance I suppose.

"No it didn't. They were whispering about us, even as we left." I complained, trying just hoping to get my mind off of the look in his eyes. My mind must have been playing tricks on me and he was just dancing with me. A completely platonic, best friend thing that best friends do when they are only very good best friends.

"They whisper about us, anywhere we go." Tony dismissed. "It was just a dance." He looked up and then raised an eyebrow and his chin when I objected. It as adorably confrontational, as if he was about to get into a fight with me.

"It was not just a dance. You have a reputation. They'll think we're…" I paused, flushing. "And we aren't."

"What? Sleeping together?" Tony asked me, sharply and I tugged on my gold dress, fiddling with it. "Are we not?" he half grinned at his joke and I used my right hand to smack at his chest, to the right of his reactor.

"That isn't funny." I pressed down, leaving my hand on his chest.

"Anna…" Tony started, and took a step closer. "I don't care what they think, because they are nothing but empty headed greedy little society people. All they want is to see everyone around them burn." I gulped, frowning.

"Yes, but we have to rely on these people for funding, and for customers." I told him, almost warning him. He only stared at me for a second and the longer he did the redder my cheeks grew. Tonight must not be my night because I could swear that the look was back in his eyes, or had it even left? I was so confused. Tony wasn't supposed to like me, he liked Pepper. Why did he have to be so confusing? His stare alone gave me chill bumps on my arms and I bit the inside of my cheek for a second.

"What?" I finally snapped, unable to take the pressure.

"I have a question." He stated.

"Fire away." I told him, almost sounding angry. Why did he drag me out to dance, tell me he somewhat needed me, press me all over him, and then drag me out here? What is going on inside his head? I don't understand and to be honest I'm giving up on hoping to understand the mystery that is Tony Stark.

"I want to tell this girl that I'm in love with how I feel but I've treated her horribly for a long time. What do I do?" He asked me. My blood nearly froze in my veins. Oh. He was talking about Pepper. Maybe the reason I didn't understand this was because I was reading too much into this situation. He could have just wanted to spend some time with me in public or something. I took a deep breath.

"I'm sure Pepper will forgive you, if you tell her." I told him, swallowing. It burned coming out of my throat, even as my mind switched slides. He didn't need to like Pepper. There was something going on with her and Obadiah. If she wanted to take over the company with Obadiah, then she would want Tony to. She may not even do that; she might just use him for his money and fame.

Tony knocked me out of my daze with another shell-shocking announcement.

"I'm not talking about Pepper." Tony stressed, and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Since when?" My surprise was probably in every line of my body. And the way I blurted the question out. I hastened to continue. "You've been in love with her since….what three weeks after she started working for us?"

"It's not her." Tony told me, ignoring what I was saying.

"Well, who is it?" I asked him, annoyed. "And for how long?" Questions were flooding throughout my brain. To think I already had to go up against Pepper. Who could this new person be? And since when does he love someone else? I mean, he's practically had no time. He was still in love with Pepper when we were on the plane over to Afghanistan. So was he talking to some girl outside of when he was talking to me?

"Guess." Tony told me, and for a moment I thought he was joking, that this whole thing was just going on punk'd or something.

"I don't know." I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "I can't help if you don't tell me who it is." Muttering this was hard. Knowing who he was in love with will not make me happy. How could I live knowing that he'd transferred his affections, and it wasn't to me? I guess the same way I've managed thinking he was in love with Pepper over me.

"Well, she's got green eyes, black, short hair, and she spent three months with me in a cave." Tony told me, his eyes holding mine and he raised his hand and pulled off his MIT ring, gold and very precious to him. He slid it onto my lax hand and I couldn't do anything but stare. Are you _serious_?

"Tony…" I gulped, my eyes as wide as saucers. He meant _me_. This couldn't be happening. I'd hoped that one day he might see me as a someone he can't live without but I didn't think that I would get so far as for him to love me. He couldn't.

"Here. This is my return gift. I loved the reactor." Tony told me, smiling suggestively.

"This is your MIT ring. I can't take this." I tried to take it off but he only continued to grin, clasping his hand around my own, so that I wouldn't take it off.

"You can. After all, you're supposed to take it as my girlfriend." Tony told me, weaving his fingers through mine and I watched him in fascination. How many years have I wanted him to love me? Here he was telling me he was in love with me, and I couldn't handle it.

"Huh." Was the only thing that came out of my mouth. "I…"

"I know, you're in awe of me. I get that a lot." He joked and the smile took over my face before I could stop it. "And there's the mocking smile." Tony grinned at me, and I finally removed my eyes from our hands, to look up and meet his eyes.

"You…you love me?" I finally asked. I have to be sure. I could already feel all of those years of crushed hope bubbling up in my chest. "You better not be joking, Tony. I will snap your neck without a moment's hesitation." I warned. He snorted and I narrowed my eyebrows. "I can, and will!"

"Anna." He interjected, almost yanking me to fit against his chest again. I yelped, bracing my hands on each side of the reactor. "I love you." He said, slowly so there was no way that I could take it completely the other direction. He loved me. Tony Stark loves me.

"I…" My cheeks were flushed and I literally couldn't say anything. My mind was incapable of grasping the fact. "When did…." Tony's eyes were watching me and I faintly realized he was watching my every reaction as if I was the hotrod and I needed fixing. I might need fixing, I was so dazed from this new information. I didn't understand how to process it.

"I don't know when it happened, but I realized it in the cave. You were protecting me, and taking injuries for me." Tony told me, moving one of his hands to brush at my hair. "This may not be very Tony Stark-ish but I kind of had my eyes opened in more than one way." Tony's eyes flitted down to my mouth and I swallowed.

"All this time, you've been flirting with me you…"

"Meant it. Every second." Tony told me, and then smirked. "Well almost every moment. The Victoria secret incident…"

"Let's not bring that into this discussion." I stopped him by speaking over him, completing the first sentence since he'd uttered those words. "I'd rather forget that even happened."

"I wouldn't." Tony wiggled his eyebrows, and I laughed even if it bubbled up kind of surprised. With my body pressed scandalously against him, and him having said the words I still couldn't believe it. "You know, now is about the time the words, 'I love you to Tony' come in. I wouldn't mind if they were followed by, 'oh, Tony you're so fabulous and handsome' either." I rolled my eyes and tentatively I reached up my own hand to run it along his facial hair gently until my finger rested on his chin.

I mean, even if he was just leading me on, how stupid would I be to waste this opportunity? I could enjoy it while it lasts. And who knows? Maybe he wasn't just kidding, and this is one of those times that I don't understand what Tony is feeling and doing.

"I love you, too." I finally returned, smiling and meeting his eyes. "Cockiness and all." Leaning up on my toes I forced my nerves to shut up and connected my lips, hesitantly with Tony's.

It was mind blowing. Just a quick press to the lips and it felt like I was flying on air. Tony was a master of kissing and no sooner had I pressed my lips to his did he respond by deepening the kiss, pressing me as close as he could. My breath was lost and I twined my arms around Tony's neck, and leaning into Tony. My mind just went blank and my knees almost gave out. Tony's arm went around my waist, tightening. His other was on my cheek and I pulled back to breath, realizing my own had moved to his neck.

"I…" My breath was gone and Tony was grinning down at me. "Ah. Don't get any cockier." I grunted at him, pushing away for a little ways. "I'm going to get a drink." I told him. He followed me as I went to leave the balcony and he kept our hands entwined, following me.

"I need one to. Who knew you'd fight me on if I loved you or not." Tony joked. I hit his arm.

"Honestly. You've been my best friend for years, and you suddenly think that I would just believe that you love me, out of nowhere. To be honest, I still think this is a joke." I admitted, swallowing as we paused right before we went out into the ball again. I fiddled with my dress. "You aren't exactly known for your stableness, even to me." I twirled the ring he'd given me around my finger, swallowing and not looking at him for a second.

"Well, I'll just have to make up for that, won't I?" He asked me, and I smiled, and he smiled in return.

"I'd like you to make up for so many years of treating me like crap." I told him, hitting our entwined hands against his chest in jest. "Now let's go get a drink." I pulled him behind me as we came back out and the people almost parted to make room for Tony and I. I could literally see the people eyeing us for more gossip. Since we left with hands clasped, our reentry didn't lead to anything else. I lead Tony with me to the bar, and I'm sure the goofy smile on my face helped them. They probably would have thought up some kind of gossip without me smiling.

"Another rum on the rocks." I asked gently, realizing that there was the same bartender that was flirting with me waiting on us, and I might have encouraged him. I shrugged it off, even as he glared at Tony's hand in mine. "Oh, a scotch on the rocks as well." I turned back to Tony after that.

"I needed to tell you that I used gold titanium alloy to make up for the icing problem." Tony told me, moving a little farther in my space then I was used to. My heart still skipped a beat even when I glanced at the bartender to make sure that he wasn't doing anything to our drinks. You've no idea how easy it is to make one of those people mad and suddenly be holding a spit in drink.

"Hey, Tony." I heard, and suddenly there was a blonde woman, gorgeous really, standing beside us. "Fancy seeing you here." Tony stared at her for a second and then glanced at me, pleading. I looked at her and blinked. I didn't know her.

"Um…" I tried to cover for him, as I knew he didn't know her. Yeah, I should probably be worrying about this girl but that wouldn't be a good health decision. With the amount of women Tony has slept with throughout the years, if I took offense to all of them, I'd have dumped him the moment he said yes. I've been head over hills for him for years, so it's by pure luck that he fell in love with me, if he really did fall in love with me. Which I still am seriously doubting.

"Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair." She supplied and a small ball of recognition went off in my head. I think I should recognize her. At least I know we've meet once or twice. But by the look of disgust on her face she didn't like me, and was probably still not happy that Tony didn't want to continue their relationship. And knowing Tony it was just a one night stand. My hand tightened on Tony's before I released it to grab my drink that the bartender set down. I probably wouldn't drink it but still.

"You two have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight." She finally exploded, after waiting for both of us to say something. As neither of us remembered her, this made it hit me the wrong way.

"Excuse me? I planned this event, and paid for it." I told her, standing up straighter, even though she was taller than me. "Of course I glued Tony's name on the invitation to." I added when he looked mock insulted at me.

"Can I at least get a reaction from you?" She asked Tony, who was glancing between me and her.

"Uh, panic. I would say panic." Tony addressed her, even as I bristled at being ignored.

"Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." She finished.

"Excuse me?" My voice came out like I was shooting ice at her. She didn't even flinch, just like a reporter.

"Uh, I'm just on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you other than to take it up with Anna." Tony said, moving a little behind me. I rolled my eyes at him, even as he put an arm around my waist.

"I actually almost bought it hook, line, and sinker." She just kept rolling.

"We were out of town for a couple of months, in case you didn't hear." Tony didn't skip a beat.

"Is this what you call accountability?" Everhart asked, finally producing photos, to tell us what she was complaining about. I swear if they were some kind of kinky pictures of what Tony and her did, I'm going to lock him up in his house never to come back out.

I took the photos that she held out and immediately my face slacked into blankness. Pictures of the Jericho missile or more importantly, ten rings members with the Jericho missile. How did they get those? "Tony." I muttered, flipping to the next picture.

"It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?" Everhart threw a knife into my fan. I winced imperceptivily and flipped to the next photo. Yinsen. That was where Yinsen and his family live. Lived. I recognized our captures, including the cruel man, in the pictures. Some of them were unloading the missiles and he was directing them. Playing the leader even outside of when he's holding people captive. I wonder if he really is the leader now, or if Raza was still alive.

"When were these taken?" Tony asked, all mocking and confusion taken out of his voice, he was serious. Taking the photos from me he flipped through them himself.

"Yesterday." Her voice was almost choked up with emotion, anyone would be. With the amount of blood showing in just these pictures I can imagine that it would scar her. After all, she's just a reporter. Just as we'd been only citizens.

"We didn't approve any shipment." I breathed, swallowing. Even as the words left her mouth I knew who was to blame.

"Well your company did."

"I am not my company." Tony said, pocketing the photos and walking away from her.

"Do not ever expect another report from me again, though I do thank you for bringing this to our attention." I told her, brushing her off to follow after Tony, who was heading into one of the more deserted hall. We were lucky that when he stopped we were almost back on the red carpet but hidden, which was fantastic for what I needed to tell Tony.

"Tony, wait." I told him, grabbing his elbow. "With your announcement I forgot to tell you something important." I tugged him close and whispered everything I heard, the most that I could remember. Now that I knew he didn't love Pepper well….it made my job of telling him what was going on a little easier. "I've suspected them both but I didn't want to tell you until I was sure."

"And you are sure." Tony muttered, glancing around.

"Yes, I heard them just before you accosted me inside." I opened his jacket to pull the photos back out. "He must have authorized this without our signature, or Pepper got me to sign it. I've never signed something without looking at it but I can't be sure that she didn't just slip it in when I wasn't concentrating." Tony took my words like a man but his silence didn't affect me. For all the sass Tony was capable of, he was still a man. Obadiah had been close to him.

"Obbie-Stane was like the father I never had." Tony muttered, rubbing his eyes and I could practically see the betrayal written on his body. Hesitating, because for all of it happening ten minutes ago, I still didn't believe I was allowed to touch him so freely, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him close to me.

"I know, Tony. Obadiah, or Stane," I said when he moved his hand to frown down at me, letting his arms fall to his sides. "Was someone that understood you when Howard and I couldn't. I trusted him with you, even if I didn't like him." I muttered the last part. Tony didn't exactly know of my distaste for his childhood mentor. The amount of betrayal he was feeling must be on the same level I felt when my mother was killed by the butler. After all, that butler, Timothy Pennyworth was my favorite and had helped pretty much raise me.

"Let's go home." Tony suddenly said, louder than a whisper and I grimaced when he tugged me out into the spotlight and out onto the red carpet.

"Tony! A picture!" One reporter shouted as he saw us. I smiled and waved, trying not to look as if I was being drug across the red carpet. Tony stopped, glancing distastefully and I realized that Obadiah was out here. Then Tony turned to the reporter and smiled his polite but not-eye-reaching smile.

"Of course." He said, tugging me to him and I made a sound of protest as I thumped against Tony. "Come on Anna, let's get a picture together." Just by the tone he said it I knew I was probably going to protest to whatever he was about to do. That's probably why he didn't tell me about it before.

And as he bent me back, right in front of God and everyone, and placed his lips to mine, all I could think was yes. Yes I do want to protest but I wouldn't have anyways. Instead I let my eyes flutter shut and kissed him back, even a press of the lips with Tony appeared to be amazing. I sighed into the kiss, letting a hand come up to hold onto the back of his hair. It couldn't have been more than two seconds before he let me up but it was enough to cause my heart, and the crowd of people, to go nuts.

The cameras were going wild and so were the reporters, asking us all kinds of questions and the like. I was flushed; there was no doubt about it because my cheeks were literally on fire right now. Just for the sake of doing so I lightly slapped Tony's chest. "Why did you do that?" I asked him, tugging on his tux jacket, trying to get us to the car. He only replied with smirking and putting his arm around my shoulders, strolling leisurely with me.

"That was horrible. I'm going to have to fill out more paperwork on this." I complained. "Our PR manager is going to be all over us."

"Lighten up, Anna. You are dating the great Tony Stark." He bragged. I rolled my eyes skyward.

"Yeah, and I'm planning on getting more and more drunk as you keep talking." I teased right back, taking a risk and leaning up to kiss the underside of his jaw. "Don't get a big head but I do think you are pretty great." Despite my order he grew even smugger. I rewarded him with a pointy elbow into his pressure point which got a high pitched whine from him. As we arrived at the edge of the red carpet, Tony's car pulled up. I turned to look up at him and grinned when I noticed mine pulled up behind him, and Tony's admiring gaze also following it.

"I'm going to go to Clint and Natasha. When I get back we'll scope out what we can and go help over in Gulmira." I whispered, getting on my tiptoes so it looked to all the world as if I was giving him a love message. I pecked him on the cheek for good measure, enjoying the feeling of his facial hair against my lips. My sense of adrenaline at doing so was magnificent. How long have I wanted to have an honest to God reason for brushing my face, lips and body against his facial hair?

"Have fun." Tony muttered, chasing my face to capture another kiss. Slowly, and with a grin I took myself out of his arms, turning around to accept the keys from the gaping valet. I frowned and turned back to Tony. Just because I could, instead of asking for his wallet, I tucked my hand into his tux pocket and grabbed it, picking out two bills, which happened to be hundreds, and passed it to the waiting valet.

"Thank you for taking care of her." I told him, then tucked Tony's wallet back into his pocket with a pat and got in my car. I took one last glance at him, walking to get into his own car, before I pulled out from behind him and left.

There was only one thought on my mind.

What the hell just happened?

**Okay, what do you think? I know it's been a few days but I thought it would be a good idea to put some distance in there. Plus, I'm so sick right now that I can't thinks straight, and I still have to go do things. And I'm already late. So I'll see you guys later. Don't know when, because I'll be going to see Iron Man 3 the day it comes out. I refuse to go on my tumblr because I know it'll be all over it that day.**

**Bye! I hope you enjoyed Tony's confession and Anna's incredulity!**


	16. Close Your Eyes

My car was sitting outside of Tony's house but for the life of me I couldn't drive it into the garage. How do I act around him? Hell, how do I act away from him? What did he expect from me now? Did it even happen or was I finally crazy. I mean, how long have I wanted this?

Now that it has finally happened I'm just a little confused. After all, years of wanting can make somebody a little skeptical. He'd been in love with Pepper, or had a crush on her if I'm going to believe Tony, for almost a year. Tony wouldn't lie about it. I like to think I spark that much loyalty from him but it was surreal.

Taking a deep breath I just decided to go all in. If he didn't like it we could go back to friends, even if it hurt. Oh my, what if this relationship ruined our friendship? No. Stop panicking. I kicked the car into gear and forced myself to drive up the ramp and into the garage, to be stunned. I stumbled out of the car in my sudden haste.

The shop was wrecked. Well not wrecked but there was a light hanging from the ceiling and all of the windows were busted out of the wall that led to the stairs. What had gone on here? I moved farther into the room and there Tony was, watching the news and I realized that they were speaking about the problem in Gulmira. While Nat and Clint had been training me I had put the TV on. I was still sore from having angrily punched Clint in the face. At least my anger made me finally get that privilege.

"Tony." I muttered. He sat on the couch and I realized that his weapon of choice had been a piece of the armor, the thruster, strapped to the hand. I belatedly realized that he had painted it before I sat down on the couch, a little closer than normal but I figure I can have that privilege as well.

"His family died in that village." Tony cut me off from whatever I was going to say. "We could have hurried the suit up or something. Look at them; they're all dying with our weapons. We helped that." Tony gritted his teeth and looked away from the screen. My own eyes watered, but less for the people of Gulmira. Yes I cared, but I seemed to understand something that Tony didn't.

"Tony." I hesitated, before I moved forward, sitting myself right beside him and leaning my head on his shoulder. I justified my actions not by the fact I was his 'girlfriend' but more because I would have done it without hesitation before I even started liking him. "You have to realize, before we even start this, that you will not save everyone." He met my eyes and I could literally see the pain there. "We are two people. Yeah, we've got a suit now to help us out, but we are still two people. And when we don't save a few people, they will probably bite at us. We'll need all of the skills we got from growing up in the camera. This is going to be hard." I told him. He turned back to stare at the people currently climbing down the mountain with everything they had to their names either on their back or packed on a goat.

"…trying to get to a nearby village, or some kind of safety. Sometimes even taking refuge in an abandoned Soviet's factory." The reporter told us. I swallowed myself as I saw one of our guns on the top of one of the old trucks. It was being shot at the inside of the aforementioned factory.

"Well I know one thing we can do." Tony told me, clenching his hand with the thruster in it. I could hear the thruster powering up but he let it go before he shot something else. Pursing my lips I grinned at him.

"Does this mean you painted mine to?" I asked him, getting up, trying to silently tell him that I was ready for whatever he had planned. I'd almost forgotten that anything had changed between us before Tony smirked and used his leg to tug on the back of my knees, making me fall on my knees on the couch – just between his legs. "Oi!" I yelped in surprise, bracing myself on the back of the couch so that I didn't fall straight on or over him. Not that I was tall enough to go over him.

Tony returned my surprised yelp by leaning up and kissing me, resting the hand with the thruster on my back and I shivered as the cool metal pressed against my skin. I was wearing a sports bra with a matching jacket and pants but he was still wearing the pants to his tux, and the undershirt. So the cold of the armor touched to my skin easily and I shivered, even as his lips forced my own open, and the scruff of his lips pressing against mine was magical.

I could barely pull myself away, so I guess it's good that Tony did it for me. My smile was probably stretching my face but that's okay because Tony was smiling to. "Come on, let's go get changed." I rolled my eyes, as if my thoughts weren't trying to scramble themselves back together.

"Actually I made us suits." Tony told me and I stopped as I was just outside the living area of the work shop. My eyebrows rose and watched him as he walked to a table, picking up two black suits. Automatically, from its small size I knew I was going to be, while not showing skin, completely skin hugged. I don't even know if I can fit into it. Cautiously I took it from Tony's hands, eyeing it. It was defiantly made from a certain material, but I had no idea what. I suppose I should recognize it but I decided to focus on the fact I should be wearing this.

"I'm going to let you get away with this but I'm not changing in front of you." I told him, grinning when he mock pouted. "JARVIS, do me a favor and get my suit ready, check it and map out the fastest way to Gulmira from here." I spoke, moving to the bathroom, ignoring Tony's whine. Instead I walked into the bathroom, trying to prepare for a long flight to willingly return to Afghanistan, on my own terms.

I was right the suit did fit extremely tightly but it was comfortable, even if I couldn't wear my undergarments because of its tightness. I hope it isn't cold. When I returned to the work shop, my brain was nearly fried. Tony was wearing his own suit, having just fixed it around his arc reactor, and it looked gorgeous. The suit hugged every little curve of his delicious body and his abs were defiantly well defined. I sighed and Tony heard me, looking up. Or as far as he got before he slowly gazed back down, taking me in. I felt extremely self-conscious but I had to have faith that Nat and Clint were doing something right.

"At least these suits are good for something." I teased, to try and get his eyes off my body as I walked all the way to him. Tony's eyes were dark as they connected with mine and my cheeks almost flushed again but I turned away, looking at the two sections of flooring that had been cleared off to hold our armor. "Which ones mine?" I asked him. When he didn't answer I turned around and he was grinning at my back side, or he was but he looked up innocently when I turned back around. I wasn't fooled and I scowled at him.

"It's that one." He said, but pulled me close to him after pointing out the one to the left. "I have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Tony was definitely trying to get on my good side again but I continued to scowl at him. He just continued to grin.

"This suit shows too much." I complained to him, to which he squeezed his fingers.

"No it doesn't. I can't see anything I'm not supposed to." Tony argued, keeping his hands on my hips and I pursed my lips. Was this really worth the effort to argue about? Plus if I keep my suit on, he will keep his own. With the feel of all of him against me, with both of us wearing such thin material, I wanted nothing more than for him to keep that suit on.

"Fine, fine." I gave in, leaning forward, or up, and pecking him on the lips. "Come on let's get in the suits, we have a long ways to go."

No matter how long we had to go, I will never forget the first time I wore my iron suit, the press of it and JARVIS bolting the pieces together. It was magnificent. Stepping into the boots and having what would become a second skin by the time the flight was done just be attached to me felt like coming home. Almost like being in Tony's arms at night. As the abdomen came down from the ceiling and was bolted to my body I couldn't help but note how closely it followed my movements, and how smoothly the arms went on. But the best part was how it connected to the arc reactor so easily.

The moment the faceplate was down, and the systems were up I kicked on the thrusters, and started off out of the garage, as if I owned it. Tony wasn't far behind me. I took a moment, after directing myself correctly, out over the sea, to admire Tony's suit. It was red and gold, perfectly colored so probably JARVIS' paint job but the colors were pure Tony. Only he would be this ostentatious. It was all Tony though, the angry looking mask, one that he wore almost every day, granted less angry but still Tony. Moving closer to the water I looked at myself in its reflection as we grew farther away from Malibu.

My suit was just like Tony's, expect the female parts. There weren't a lot but just enough so that you could tell I was female. While I didn't like that I looked bald, I admit it was a good suit. The red and gold looked good and the circle of light fit on my chest, where the boobs were out enough to compensate for my own breasts, but weren't nearly as big as Tony had wanted them.

"I still think we should have made your features bigger." Tony's voice filtered through my communication link. I should have known he couldn't keep silent. Finishing my inspection, I flew up high again, to find him in the clouds. At least I didn't have to worry about him icing up again.

"Please. I wouldn't be able to fly with those things." I objected.

The entire flight to Afghanistan was spent speaking about useless things, arguing about others, and flying in between each other, even doing little tricks. It would be awesome to throw those in just to make fun of the Ten Rings. We only talked about one important thing, and that was the last comment before we reached Gulmira, watching one of our Jericho missiles go off.

"If that man is here, I want him out in the open." I said, softly as I watched the Jericho missile hit the mountain and explode. "He's over there." I noted, just after saying it. I was enraged, even as I silently landed, undisturbed and unnoticed. Tony stayed up in the skies, to track where the missiles were placed.

"Do your worst." Tony encouraged. Even so I knew I wouldn't take the man's life. He may have wronged me, a great deal actually, but what he is doing here, taking the women and killing most of the men, that was far worse. He couldn't hurt my family, or kill them. Tony was my family and they had needed him to be compliant. This, was not the same. He was taking their family and killing them. Even worse, in this culture the women are uneducated, and taught to submit. What would they have now that their husbands were gone?

I watched as they took the men from their families, even one man who was trying to sneak by with his wife and two kids, was separated. My heart broke a little inside to see the eldest boy run to try and save his father who was grabbed and lined up with the other men. They were going to execute them. The cruel man grabbed the child away from the father and threw him bodily to another member of the Ten Rings. I charged my thrusters and got ready to jump down, still unseen by these pitiful people. I waited just long enough for them to get the man to his knees before I jumped down, uncaring now that the cruel man walked away. I could find him again. I was more worried about saving the boy's father.

As my boots thrusters kicked off, I took a breath and literally slammed my weight, which was a lot with the armor on, onto the ground bracing on one knee and an arm. As I rose the place was silent in either awe or fear I didn't know. I cared not. One of the men shot at me but his gun was no match for my armor and I struck him down, sending him actually flying. I charged the thrusters, shooting at the fleeing enemies, knocking them out or killing them. I didn't stop to check.

When I turned around to shoot the rest of them they were unreachable by thruster. All of them had a woman or child to hide behind, a gun to their victims head. "JARVIS small range shoulder missiles." I ordered. "Lock them on the enemy." He did as asked; not commenting and Tony didn't say anything, even though I could hear him blowing up some of the Jericho missiles, and the others. I hope he got them all and it wouldn't matter if he didn't, as long as he got most of them they couldn't hope to do more than flee.

As soon as the missiles hit off, the screams of a foreign language, by the enemy were cut off. A cold grin took over my face as they fell to the ground, the missiles; bullets really hit them head on without any warning. The former hostages looked as if they couldn't believe it as the bodies fell to the ground around them.

"I lost sight of him but I got the hostages free." I told Tony through our link.

"I've got him." He told me and within ten seconds he had landed behind me, and then, to make it an even better picture he thrust his hand through the wall, jerking out the cruel man as he went, the wall coming down behind him. He threw the man, my torturer at the feet of both me and the hostages, who were fumbling to pick up the weapons.

I missed the moment of reunion but I caught the father that I had saved hugging his son close to him. My heart lightened from all of the death around me. That was what was going to keep me coming back to what I had signed up for. It won't be the power, or the fame. It'll be those parents clutching their sons, and the wives getting to say good night to their husbands at night. Tony walked a few meters away from the civilians and his mask turned to me. I couldn't see his face, but I did get what he was asking. If I wanted to kill him myself or let them have him.

"As far as I'm concerned my score is settled." I answered.

"Then let's take care of the weapons and get home, I'm dying to see the next episode of Top Chef." Tony joked, starting his thrusters. I walked a few paces away, so that my thrusters wouldn't hurt anyone around me and followed him into the air, even if Tony lingered to speak with the hostages. "He's all yours." The voice came out distorted, like a robot's voice. It was a tactic so that the people wouldn't realize who we were.

"JARVIS, target the weapons." I told him as I flew over the village. I managed to destroy the ones I targeted but I realized there was a loud grunt from Tony's end of the line. I swiveled my head as I kept myself in place, gawking when I saw Tony had been hit out of the sky by a literal tank. It was obviously stolen or, Obadiah had sold it to them. I flew down, so they couldn't hit me, flying on level with the buildings, diving around to land, hidden just behind a wall, but able to see the crater Tony had landed in.

"You okay, butternut?" I asked him, knowing he was just fine. Maybe a bit banged up but fine. The suit could take a lot more than a missile. He appeared, hand and then face first from the crater.

"Fabulous." Tony answered, discomfort clear in his voice. The tank shot another missile, but Tony just moved his shoulder and the missile missed him. I snorted. "Hey, watch this." He told me, humor in his voice. I did indeed watch as he raised his arm and just a small missile shot off at the tank and hit it. Tony turned around, and I could practically see the glee in his brain. Since I was off to the left it did look indeed wonderful. He was turned and the angry looking mask was just perfect. And plus, I can at least admit the natural way that Tony rolls his hips when he walks was caught and magnified by the armor. And it was delicious. And with the background being an exploding tank, I was barely holding myself back.

"That looked wonderful." I tried my hardest not to let my emotion of desire into that statement but I don't think I succeeded. At least I didn't have to worry about him realizing I was attracted to him now. I stepped out from my hiding place as more of the enemy came, shooting at Tony. I helped to shot at them, using missiles and hidden bullets. Tony took off, and I followed soon after, making sure that we got the last of the Jericho missiles. I let Tony have the honors of taking the last Jericho missile, and the rest of the enemies, as he shot off a thruster with both hands.

While he did that I got up in the air again, making sure that was indeed the last of them. "We've got them all, and JARVIS can't find any more either." I told Tony. "Let's go home." I tightened the thrusters, giving them more power so that I could blast off. JARVIS showed me the approach of Tony behind me and I readied myself to take the long trip back from Afghanistan to Malibu.

"Oh Hey, Rhodes is calling, guess he caught wind." Tony told me. Indeed JARVIS slid a picture up and I chuckled. "Should we answer him?" Even though he was only calling Tony, I appreciated being connected as well.

"Well, at least we know we can trust him with that." I told Tony. "JARVIS pick up."

"Hello?" Tony answered.

"Tony?" Rhodes asked.

"And Anna." I supplied. No need for him not to know I'm on the line.

"And who is this?" Tony asked, playing along. I frowned and swung around cloud, so that I didn't go through it. It was fun the first few times but when I hit Tony it wasn't so fun. "I'm sorry, speak up please?" Tony called and I really didn't hear Rhodes speak.

"It's Rhodes. What is that noise?" He asked. I giggled.

"Tony's driving with the top down." I answered, frowning as JARVIS looked up information. Rhodes was at the Edwards Air Force base, in California where he was stationed, so that probably means they know we are here. The fact he's calling just after we took out our weapons was to close not to be connected.

"Yeah well I need your help right now." Rhodes' voice was almost panicked.

"It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony sassed. How it worked? Oh, that's right. When we first got back we'd been going to enlist Rhodes but he blew Tony off.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you two were held hostage." Rhodes told us. I twirled around Tony, bored of the conversation. It really wasn't my business.

"Well, that's a hot spot." Tony retorted, flipping over to watch me as I did a loop and then flipped in mid-air. I've got to practice you know, so I can move in the air like second nature. "Looks like somebody stepped in and did your job for you, huh?" I'm glad that he's at least hanging on for now. It would suck if he gave it away right after we came out.

"Why do you sound out of breath Tony?" Rhodes asked his voice angry. I snorted and cut the thrusters, almost hitting Tony who dodged. I responded by kicking the thrusters back on, and zooming back to be over him.

"I'm not, I was just running in the canyon." Tony answered and I giggled. He messed up.

"I thought you were driving." Rhodes caught it to.

"We were but now we're jogging." I tried to fix it but I don't think Rhodes believed me.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area that I should know about?" Rhodes asked us, and both of us replied in the negative. "Okay, good because I'm staring at two right now and both are about to be blown to kingdom come." I gasped as two jets came down behind us. I swiveled my head down and glanced at them.

"Yeah, hey look Tony coyote. Bye Rhodes." I answered, cutting the line. I turned the armor away; going separate then Tony but one of the jets followed him, and the other me. I'd rather not have to injure them or their planes but I don't want to get shot down either. I didn't pay attention to see if Tony had said goodbye, too busy with the jet on my tail. It was close to me and I tried my hardest to spin out of its way, and go faster then it. "JARVIS keep my power on the screen and its position in correspondence to me." I ordered. JARVIS knew not to speak and instead did what I asked.

No matter how I spun it kept up and I realized with an almost sense of pride, it was of Stark & Vinci make. Nonetheless my armor was sleeker, and better equipped than even the jet and I got a good bit ahead of it. I was going to try for a drop but it sent off a missile.

"I got it!" Tony called, coming up behind me, in my tail, streaking upwards, dropping flares that connected with the missile. The missile exploded, making the jet jeer away from me and I grinned.

"Thanks." I called, swiveling when Tony came center with me, our first plan of splitting up not working. "I've got an idea." I told him, even as bullets hit the back of my suit, and I'm guessing Tony's. A grunt was my answer and I took a deep breath. "Deploy flaps when I say, and grab onto the one on your lefts undercarriage." I ordered.

"Deal." Tony breathed and I turned up and around him so that I could cover his back, as they were hitting him more than me. "On three?"

"One, two," I swallowed. "Three." I shouted. "Deploy flaps JARVIS." As the flaps came out and I was jerked backwards, the surprised and slower jets couldn't do anything but keep going. I reached my arm out and grabbed onto a piece of the metal, the strength of my metal and the hinges did as they should and had enough strength to bend the metal to my will and I hung onto the jet.

"Are you safe?" Tony shouted, even though I could hear him fine if he whispered.

"I'm good, you?" I asked, trying my best to sound calm, even as the jets slowed down trying to find us in the sky.

"Good, let's call Rhodes back." Tony suggested, as chipper as if we'd only just figured out how to defy the laws of gravity. "JARVIS recall, it's time to tell Rhodes I don't know how much we can take." I rolled my eyes, even if he couldn't see it.

"Hello?" Rhodes answered.

"Hey Rhodes, it's us." Tony answered; I could hear the grin, and also the strain of holding on. I was dying myself, holding on to the metal. If I wasn't on the line with JARVIS I'd mute it and try to get JARVIS lock it.

"It's who?" Rhodes asked.

"I'm sorry, it is me." Tony answered again. "You asked. What you asked about it's me, and Anna." He told him, I tried to bring my legs up and do something with them, besides letting them be dangled around.

"No, see this isn't a game." Rhodes answered. He didn't quite understand. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand me?"

"It's not a piece of equipment." I squeaked. "We are in them, it's a suit. It's me!" I shouted as one of my hands almost slipped as the jet I was on turned. "Son of a bitch." I shouted, digging my fingers tightened into the metal.

The jet began to roll and I screamed as I came loose, and ended up knocking into the other plane's wing, causing Tony to go flying. The impact of the wing with my body, even through the suit hurt like a mother fucker. It had been years since I had cursed so much but I thought it was appropriate, given the amount of instant pain that went through my back. Thankfully the suit itself did take the brunt of the attack and I was able to kick the thrusters under me and escape into the clouds, where Tony had zoomed off to. We were just low enough to see what was happening.

The plane I had run into's pilot had ejected from the crashing jet, but he wasn't letting out his chute. "Tony!" I called and he cursed as we both headed for the man who was quickly falling through thin air. Tony and I were rotating around each other, trying to get the best angle, and later when I wasn't trying to save the pilot's life I would note that it looked pretty impressive, with our trails intertwining.

"You've been engaged, enacting evasive maneuvers." JARVIS warned.

"Just a little farther!" I answered, getting my arms and legs in tighter so I could get to the man. Tony and I got to the man at the same time. I grabbed the bottom of the chair, and slowed his descend, turning the thrusters towards the ground. Tony took my time to yank, with his much better strength then the man, and pull the chute out. As soon as it was out I released the man, and spun off to follow Tony out.

"Well, hopefully they won't kill us now." I noted, not turning back to see. If they tried to shoot us then JARVIS would inform us.

"Us?" Tony laughed. "You were the one who broke the raptor." Tony joked. Oh, it was a raptor. In the heat of the moment I hadn't even realized what it was. At least not past the fact it was trying to kill me.

"Please, as far as I see it you were my accomplice." I answered, right before Rhodes came back on his phone.

"You still there?" He asked, and I could tell there was relief in his voice, and he was much calmer.

"Yeah, hey thanks." Tony answered, flying just above and before me.

"Oh, my God you are crazy. How did you talk Anna into this?" Rhodes asked, laughing the sentence out. "You two owe me a plane, you know that?"

"No-uh. He hit me." I told Rhodes, grinning as JARVIS popped up how much damage that we had taken.

"What do you mean talk her into? How do you know it wasn't her idea?" Tony demanded.

"Tony, only you would try something this reckless. I just went along with the ride." I said. "And helped, you know the usual with you."

"What am I supposed to tell the press?" Rhodes asked.

"Uh, training exercise, isn't that the usual B.S.?" Tony grunted from his armor.

"It's not that simple." Rhodes told us.

"Yeah, and I believe that." I called him out, glancing down at the desert land below us. I wonder if this is the same desert that Tony and I walked over to get out of that hell hole of a cave. Ah, who cares now? I've got about six hours worth of repairs being mentioned on my suit by JARVIS. I don't have time to enjoy the luxury of twisted memories.

**DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS**

**I absolutely cannot with Iron Man 3 right now. I went and saw it when it came out, despite being so sick that I could literally hear my heartbeat. I took my friend, who had read the comics. He was mad about the Mandarin but I just shushed him. I loved the movie!**

**When he started dancing in the beginning….**

**I almost had to leave the theatre guys. I didn't really like the ending, or the fact they gave magical powers to Pepper. It was kind of BS for me on that one, but I still adore the movie. You guys already know I don't like Pepper that much. And I'm going to be honest she didn't act to splendid for a lot of the movie. I also thought that Tony should have kept the arc reactor, but that's just me being upset right after the movie.**

**I go through like an hour period after I see a movie where I obsess over something. **

**Okay, okay back onto the story here.**

**Yes, to all of you who have asked, I am going to be eventually writing an Avengers and Iron Man 3 story. Before that happens I will also be writing my ThorOC story, and it will be published at the same time as my Iron Man 2 story, to try and keep at least a little to the story line. And to be honest I have not written a lot on it. I've been obsessing over Supernatural, and every time I've watched even one episode I've had to try and nurse my heart back to health.**

**But I knew you guys couldn't wait for this. You know how I know?**

_**Because we're connected.**_


	17. For Your Eyes Will Only Tell The Truth

"-was not involved." Rhodes' voice called out over the TV. JARVIS had cut it on, having been on the lookout for mention of us, or what happened, since yesterday. Tony and I were still working on the suit. My thinking is we were going to have to have spares ready to go, just in case something like this happened again. I was already thinking of new ways to improve the suit, or make it flexible for different places and situations.

"Did you find your bullet?" Tony asked. He had the abdomen of his suit set up so he could fix it, while I was on my leg, trying to find where this bullet JARVIS kept pointing out was.

"Getting….there…" I muttered, tugging loose the last one. "Why?" I asked, plunking it in the bowl, satisfied. Besides the raptor's wing I'd taken very little damage, and so I had less to work on personally then Tony did. The rest that had to be worked on, buffing the surface, painting, and replacement of parts could be done by JARVIS. I set it out for Dummy to grab and YOU to help with. Lord knows I was taking a risk there. JARVIS was already working ahead of me, the machines working to make the parts, and him repairing the parts I was already done with. It's amazing what you can fit beneath the ground, huh?

"Do you mind if I send you on an errand?" Tony asked. I grabbed a red rag and walked to where he was using pliers to find the medal bit that had apparently poked him the whole ride back. Sitting down in a chair beside him I looked up into the suit, smiling when he glanced down to look into my eyes. The entire fly home Tony had been either quietly scheming, which I just left him to, or he was flirting.

Surprisingly it made me even more comfortable, because then he was being _Tony._ That made it easier, though I did notice he was being…sincere when he said some of the things now. It's kind of strange to explain it.

"Excuse me?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow, even as I took the pliers from his hands and yanked on the loose metal. "I am not suddenly your errand girl." I teased, dropping the metal onto the tray, the same that had been our medical table, and handing back the pliers.

"Well, I can't trust Pepper." Tony said, rolling his eyes. "And I still have work to do on my suit." He tried to explain. I snorted, and rested back on the chair, using his legs as a foot rest, propping my feet on his thighs.

"Alright, what is it?" I asked. I knew I was probably going to do it anyways. I almost always do what Tony wants.

"I need you to go to the office." Tony said, wheeling away, grabbing my legs to pull me with him. I squealed, clutching the bottom of the chair I was sitting on so I didn't get carried off. "Hack into the mainframe and retrieve all of the recent shipping manifests." Tony told me his plan, or more like ordered me. I rolled my eyes and took the chip he was handing me anyways.

"So you want me to use this lock chip to steal our own information?" I asked, frowning. "Why don't we just sign in and get it?" I questioned, even as he tugged my legs so they were on either sides of his hip, making me come closer to him.

"Obadiah would be sneakier then that." Tony said, blinking. I grinned, leaning forward and kissing his lips, and sighed in bliss.

"Alright, sir." I mocked, trying to slip my legs out to get up but his hands were still on them and he kept me there.

"Be…" Tony's face almost screwed up but he frowned.

"Careful?" I questioned, softly. "Tony you know I will be. Both Pepper and Obadiah will probably be there. I'll have to be." My hands moved to frame his arc reactor. "Just…don't do anything stupid while I'm gone either, like I don't know blow up another government raptor." He smiled a little but strangely this time it was him more serious than me.

"I don't want to see you in danger, but I know I can't hold you back and ask you to sit to the side." Tony admitted. I'm not quite sure what has gotten in to him but I do know that it was _sweet _almost. Was Tony always this sweet? Maybe it's only a phase but oddly enough he seemed concerned.

"Damn right you can't. It's just as much my fight as it is yours." I said, placing my forehead against his. "I'll be fine. Don't worry so much." I grinned, slowly drifting forward to press our lips together for a few seconds. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of that."

"Yeah well, you've got a long time to savor it." Tony wiggled his eyebrows. I pushed off from him, using his chest and got up, holding the lock chip in my hand. Forcing the giggles back down my throat and cleared it.

"I'm serious, Tony." I pointed at him, even as I left the room. "Don't do anything stupid. I've learned five different ways to kill you, just with my index finger." Turning around as I started up the stairs, I groaned, not hearing his reply. My back was sore, if not injured just sore. As I hit the top of the stairs I stretched out my limbs, grimacing when my spine popped a few times. Mushing on then.

"JARVIS, pull me out a good outfit for the office, please, one I have here." I said, making my way to Tony's room. With us sleeping on the same bed I'd just ended up having JARVIS move my stuff into a new dresser in Tony's room. Luckily he hadn't noticed. It felt kind of strange now, but at the same time it didn't.

Well, Tony and I haven't had any sleep but I imagine with my new found knowledge, I can take advantage of his usual lack of a shirt and grope where I can. My mind turned fuzzy and I almost didn't realize what I was pulling on. My body was pretty much unmarked, so JARVIS picked me out a cute little pair of black almost slacks but were really jeans, and a loose white one, to cover up the arc reactor in my chest, though it would still shine through if I didn't watch it. Well. Not all of me was unmarked. I took a moment to trace the scaring on my chest, biting my lip.

"Thanks JARVIS, you always know just what I want to wear." I shook off the nostalgia, and pulled on a pair of converse, stylish and something I would usually wear. True, this wasn't a working kind of outfit but it was mine. What is the use in wearing a pencil skirt when I'm only going to be gone for a few hours at the most?

"You're welcome, ma'am." JARVIS returned. I chuckled and picked up a few of my belongings, like my wallet, keys, and Stark phone. I glanced to see the charge, still at seventy percent even though I'd had it on for two days straight now. An apple product would have failed by now. Poor Steve Jobs, he tried his hardest to give us a run for our money but he failed.

When I arrived at the top floor of the current main building the situation hit me. I had my badge, I'd found it in the cubby of my Lamborghini, and I was thankful I did. They had to scan it, listing off some bull shit about being stricter with the security. I knew something was up though, because as soon as I was pasted them, the two guys had hurried to do something with their phones. If they were doing what I think they were doing, then they'll be fired within a fortnight.

Walking out of the elevator, on the floor that only Tony, Pepper, and I used felt like I was going back into the war zone again. All three of the doors were closed, except mine and I moved towards it frowning. My eyebrows lifted as I realized Pepper was waiting there with a smile, and a folder full of files. That did not bode well, and it was also very suspicious. Seeing as how she doesn't even come in to my office unannounced when I'm here, I find it odd that she took it upon herself to come inside when I wasn't here. How long had she been doing this? For what reason did she have for doing it?

"Can I help you, Pepper?" I asked, setting a smile on my face even though I was turning slowly to ice at her sitting on my desk. I didn't like people touching my desk, so sitting on it was bad enough. The fact that it was her was even worse.

"I was grabbing a few things to visit you. I need your signature on them." She said, holding out the files. I slid forward carefully, even as the closer I got the more strained her expression was. "I thought you were supposed to be lying low?" Yes, the tension and the fact she apparently hadn't tricked me had gotten to her. Where before I couldn't even begin to imagine she did not enjoy my company, it was now painfully obvious.

"Oh, that's completely blown because of the party last night." I answered, flipping through the files, not intending to actually sign them, just in case. Her lips tightened at the corners.

"I was actually expecting to talk to you." Pepper said, glancing down at the files. "What's up with you and Tony?" She questioned. Was that jealousy? Or was it because we were messing up her plans?

"Actually, before that could you do me a favor?" I asked her, dodging the question. "I forgot my card with the security guard, and I'd feel awful making him come all the way up here to give it to me. I'd owe you if you got him to bring it to me." I put my hands up in front of me in mock prayer. Not very convincing, but it got the point across. Get out, I don't want to talk to you nor do I trust you.

"Sure." Pepper's voice was strained, as she cautiously walked around me, and to the door. "I'll want those papers signed if it's possible. They're express." She commented, hurrying out the door. I waited until her clicking was gone before closing my door and running to my computer.

I clicked the lock in chip into the USB. See the thing is, since all of the computers are connected via the mainframe, if I sneak into one of the computers, I can sneak into all of them. That being said the bosses and the board members had separate networks then the rest of the building. So if Obadiah wanted to hide something then it must be hidden where none of us would stumble on it. And since no one would be looking for anything, then his ghost files would be the easiest to get.

Automatically data came up as the lock chip did its job. I completely ignored the security threat pop up window, instead clicking in a few things to the data, so that I could get to Obadiah's hidden files in his computers. He _shouldn't _be on his computer right now. I waited, patiently as the lock chip looked through the files, and I kept my eyes on the door. I may be on my computer but Pepper could come back any minute, reporting my ID was not with the security card, or Obadiah could come in here. Neither of those two options were a good idea.

"What have we here?" I muttered as the screen popped up, telling me it had found a ghost drive. I pressed enter, holding it to get it to open it, then selecting all of the little things in the file and copying it onto the lock chip.

As it began to copy the information, I clicked on a few of the files. The first was missile shipments. It tugged at my heart, but the next file was one to, but then something else pulled up. Sector 16. All breath was pushed out of me. In front of me were blueprints, and pictures of a larger, admittedly bigger, armor. How did Obadiah get a hold of this? The net file was even more painful. The file reminded me of the cave, of making that first suit, or watching Tony walk off in it and not knowing if he was okay when he fell to the ground.

I clicked hastily on the next file, and shuddered when a very familiar video popped up. I'd never seen it before but it was very remember able.

"**Anna!" I heard a male voice. I knew that male voice. It's deep, rich tones and it's beauty. My eyes, bloodshot and leaking salty, burning tears met the sight of a banged up Tony Stark, with wounds bleeding from bandages on his chest and dirty scraps of clothing hanging from him. A video camera in front of us both. **

"**Tony!" I screamed, fighting. I had to help him, whether it hurt or not. God it hurt. Every movement sent pain that went beyond any kind of pain that I've ever experienced. Tony needed me; I promised that I'd be there for him. "No!" I screamed as someone hit Tony over the head, right before I was thrown into the world of the unconscious myself.**

It was like being hit with a cold splash of water. Just the memories made me flinch. The video played on, and I rushed to hit translate. I was not in the video, only Tony. It must have been after I was knocked out because in this video Tony was complacent. Or maybe it was before he'd seen me because he looked so out of it, as if he was only now awake.

"You did not tell us that the targets that you paid us to kill were Tony Stark and Anna Vinci." The voice of Raza flooded through the speakers. "As you can see Obadiah Stane your deception and lies have cost you dearly. The price to kill has just gone up." I shuddered, flipping the video off and signing off, swallowing convulsively.

I had that moment's notice of the click of shoes on the hall floor as a warning, before someone came into the room. I hastily covered up the lock chip, with the files from earlier, and shuffled the screen saver on with the practiced maneuver I gained from college.

"Hello." Pepper said, but her voice was dead, as she closed the door behind her. Slowly my eyes went from her hand on the door knob to her. She was standing completely different then the Pepper I knew. The Pepper I knew was proper, 'I want to make this job count' but not this Pepper. She was standing tall, but her shoulders slouched, and her eyes were almost angry.

"Pepper." I stated, rising to my feet, thankful I had converse.

"You know." Was all she said, turning the lock slowly. My breath was long and calming before I answered.

"Why?" I asked, instead of the ridiculous amount of questions I wanted to ask, even the accusations. "We treated you fairly, and we cared for you like a friend."

"No you didn't." Pepper laughed, cold and high pitched. This wasn't my friend Pepper. If she had even been my friend, I don't know. "A friend isn't someone you order around."

"That was your _job_." I retorted, not letting her use that excuse. "I can't help that. You knew the moment that you signed up for this job I didn't give out charity and I don't treat my workers special." My sneer could have lit a bush on fire. "We called you by your first name. You insisted on keeping it professional."

"That's because it was my _job._" Pepper mocked, taking a step farther. I noticed her heels were missing from her feet and her arms were missing. "I have wanted nothing more than to get what I was owed. Year after year I spent working and working, using my body to model so that I could get even a quarter of what you make."

"And here you are." I cut her off again, slowly rounding the desk. "With at least half of Tony and I's salary and you are getting greedy, or should I say got." I looked her up and down, condescending. I have had _enough_.

"You don't deserve this life!" Pepper shouted, finally snapping. "What have you done that I haven't? I'm better then you! I work hard, I wear the latest clothes, and I'm even _taller _then you." She threw one of her arms out as if to gesture at her fine highlights. I saw nothing of the women I thought Tony could love over me. "What did you do? Go to college, fully paid, have parents who could pay your way-"

"Shut up!" I burst. "You don't understand. Even with money, my life was never perfect. I made my life the way it is, I made myself successful. Becoming what you are claiming of me could have happened, had I had good parents." I stood in front of my desk. "You had great parents, and don't lie I've met them. My parents couldn't spare a moments time to love me. What they loved is _using _me. I've been groomed for this position for the entire beginning of my life." I grabbed a vase, a horrendous gift from some stupid board member, and threw it at the wall in anger.

"You claim I got a full ride to college." I told her, advancing another step, and this time a little of the crazed look in her eye faded for anxiety, I was getting to her. It didn't matter; I was blinded by my own rage. "When you went, people didn't laugh at you, did they? They didn't ask why a stupid, puny little teenager like you were doing in a school for grown-ups, did they? I worked _hard _for that. I put up with being shoved in garbage cans and forgot about until the janitor goes to clean it out. I've put up with being brushed off by my best friend when he discovered girls. DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT HARDSHIPS!" I screamed, near unintelligent.

"UNTIL YOU'VE SPENT THREE MONTHS DYING IN A CAVE, KNOWING YOU COULDN'T KEEP THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE ALIVE!" With that final out burst, I stopped, breathing heavy. Pepper looked like she didn't know whether to be enraged or moved. I took a deep breath eyeing her. It might have been too much, but it felt _good_ to say it. How long had it been since I really confessed? I guess this wasn't exactly the best time, but that's okay now.

"That may be true." She finally said her composure back. "But you don't have Obadiah to handle. He helped me; he gave me everything I asked for." Pepper told me and I watched as she pulled out a gun, a Stark gun, how relevant. I nearly snorted at the irony. She had a gun of my own, about to kill me when I'd already almost been killed by my missile. What was the world coming to when I start 'almost' dying every day of the week?

"He played you, Pepper." I watched her finger, as it stayed off the trigger, but only a second's twitch away from it. "Obadiah isn't a team player."

Wait for it Anna.

I could practically hear Natasha's voice in my mind.

"Obadiah said that he-" Now!

As Pepper was distracted with trying to prove me wrong I slammed forward, dodging down as she jerked on the gun, surprised. My body mass, while smaller then hers, with the force I used, slammed her against the wall. My hand wrapped around her thin wrist and I reared it back and slammed it against the wall, making her drop the weapon. She kicked out and I winced and backed away, holding my upper left thigh, where her high heel had hit. Pepper dived down to grab the gun but I dove over her, straddling her back.

"Pepper! Don't do this!" I shouted, slamming both of her hands down. The glass from the vase, and the larger, sharper broken pieces were only a foot from us and I glanced between them and Pepper.

"Shut up!" She screeched, hysterical. "You're just one more little bitch who doesn't know when to give up!" I yelped as she bucked up, her higher weight causing me to be forced off. She didn't stop there. Having grabbed the gun she sat up, swinging over to shoot me. I rolled away, dodging the bullet as it hit me, but coming back before she could get the nerve to shot again. Diving at her, this time I used Natasha's training, wrapping my legs around the arm with the gun, and her neck.

"Pepper, I've been trained by two assassins, please don't make me do this." I begged, holding the arm with the gun. She shot again, which was really pointless but whatever. Pepper was not really a fighter, so she didn't know to kick out of my hold, having not watched even wrestling. She only screamed.

"You're a little bitch, and one day Tony is going to get tired of you and your clinging ways! You just wait and see!" She shouted, causing me to flinch. That gave her an opening, as my grip with both my thighs and arm loosened as she spoke one of my fears. Pepper scrambled out dropping the gun, picking up a shard of the vase. I tried to turn out of her way, but that was apparently a bad idea because her arms were longer then I thought. The piece of vase, not large enough to hit badly but enough, pierced the back of my thigh.

I yelled, and Pepper scrambled on top of me but she'd lost the game now. I was less infuriated when I thought talking her out of this might be the better option. Now I was almost out of my own mind.

When Pepper was fully on my back, I kicked my leg out, spreading it and then with a heave of muscles that had been up against two real assassins, I turned us over, grabbing the hand that had been coming around to grab my neck. With it I managed to yank it completely over my shoulder. I locked my legs, back and over her legs, while getting a firm grip on her arm, and yanking until I felt the elbow pop. She screamed in pain but I didn't stop there, instead, I moved my head back, head-butting her in the face, getting off of her and stumbling up, wavering on my leg that still had the piece of vase in it.

Pepper couldn't get up with me, and I wasn't going to kick her while she was down, instead I dropped back down, wrapping my legs around her neck and holding, trying to just make her unconscious. My mind was racing. I wouldn't kill her, I didn't want to. She would go to jail, and though Pepper was a good person, she wasn't nearly smart enough to escape prison.

And then she broke out of my hold, by pressing into the glass shard she had before. I exclaimed loudly, throwing her away from me, and holding me leg. Realizing she was potentially coming back for more I lifted my head but she was motionless. I hesitantly came forward, ready for her to get up and come at me again. She was on her front and I reached out, not really wanting to see what my mind had already guessed. Pepper had fallen on the glass shards, too hard. The vase had killed her.

I flinched and looked up when I heard running. Isn't that perfect? I need help and they come the moment the fight is over. Magically the people who enter are not the security guards, but the guy from my father's company, Strategic Homeland place. He had his gun out, and two men were behind him but it was pointless. I looked away from them and down at Pepper, taking one more breath before I sat back, clenching my hand around the wound on my leg. At least it was the _only _wound she inflicted. Not bad for my first life or death fight.

"Is it too late to hire my own P.A.?" I asked, glaring down at the glass shard. I wasn't going to let her death get to me. In fact, I should have been prepared for this. It had been obvious she didn't exactly want me alive, or feel a need to keep me alive, so why should I expect that she would give up until I gave her what she wanted?

"Ms. Vinci, are you hurt?" Agent Coulson demanded, as his two lackeys slid up to Pepper's dead body, being cautious and pointing their guns at her – it.

"Besides the obvious bleeding leg? Nope." I said, leaning back on one of my hands. "I'll give you the video feed from my office, she attacked me and I reacted." I told Agent Coulson, and then I remembered. I had a job to do, and I really needed to get home. Glancing out of the windows I realized that it was almost dark outside, and Tony hadn't called to badger me for taking so long or even to make sure I was doing it right. Ignoring the Agent's hand that was checking my wound I took instead my phone out of my pocket, making sure it still worked before I called.

"Come on, pick up." I muttered. The line picked up. "Tony? It's Obadiah and Pepper, whatever you do don't be alone with Obadiah!" I called, but there was no answer, instead the phone was clicked off. _SHIT._

I jerked when without warning the Agent yanked out the piece of glass, and pressed the tie he had taken off over it. "I have to go." I told him, and he looked up. "Obadiah and Pepper sold under the table, and they were planning to make a weapon. Can you get me the lock chip in the computer?" I asked the question for one of the Agents who were emotionlessly sitting and watching and waiting for orders. The taller one went around to my desk, with thankfully brisk steps, and got it for me. Once it was in my hands I batted Coulson's hands away.

"You need medical attention." Coulson tried to argue.

"I do not. I almost had a medical degree. I know that it missed the artery. It should stop bleeding soon." I used his shoulder to climb up and balance on my leg, tentatively putting my weight on it. It would be painful, but not the worst I've had. If he thought it was, then he was sadly mistaken.

"We'll take care of this." Coulson told me, motioning to the body behind him, the body of my _friend._ No, stop it not right now.

"Good, but I need you to go to our arc reactor facility. There will be a Sector 16 there, and Obadiah will be there. It's urgent that you do it now. With the amount of time he's had, he might be done with the weapon." I told Coulson as I limped out of my office, the tie my makeshift bandage. Pulling my phone back out I texted JARVIS to tell him to have bandages ready for me.

Getting into the elevator, with Coulson in it, I was nervous. I didn't know what had happened to Tony, but having killed Pepper even if accidently, it hurt. It was the first life I took with my own hands, not my thrusters or a gun or even by slamming them into a wall with the suit. It hurt to know that I was capable of that. How did Natasha and Clint deal with it?

To keep myself occupied I informed Coulson what Obadiah and Pepper have been doing, though I kept quit a few things for him. As the elevator _finally _hit the bottom, I was still hurried talking, having hit the override buttons on the elevator to get it to go straight to the bottom.

"Do not under estimate him. He had our top scientists at his disposal." I warned, limping across the security point, the two security guards from earlier jumping up to stop me. "When I get back you two are fired. So watch yourselves before I have you arrested to." I told them, walking by and not stopping. No one was in the lobby, being as it was night time. I didn't know why Coulson was here until I realized that Fury had probably sent him to try again at getting information from me.

My car was pulled up outside and I almost dove into it to get away to Tony.

"I'll meet up with you as soon as I know Tony's safe, and tell you the rest." I told Coulson, revving my engine when he nodded and took off.

I have never sped this bad in my life. Going as fast as my Lamborghini could go, was a bad decision so I drove it as fast as I could drive it without dying. Taking the back roads to go faster, and with less people on it was a good decision, because I arrived at the house with only fifteen minutes under my vest.

Slowing down to go up the ramp I nearly squealed into the garage, or work room. Not bothering to cut the car off I shouted out for Tony. "Come on, talk to me." I called, hobbling to the door, hoping he was just upstairs, and then I heard Dummy's alarmed beeps. I turned, screaming when I saw Tony passed out on the ground with my present beside him, the old arc reactor. He was facing down, unmoving. My legs moved faster than before as I hobbled to his side, ignoring the pain of the wound and the slick blood that was going down my leg steadily.

"Tony?" I pushed him over, and gasped when I realized that his arc reactor was out. Shit shit, and shit.

"An…na.." Tony muttered, already halfway into cardiac arrest. My mind raced before I set eyes on my present, of course. I picked it up and raised it above my head, smashing it back down on the ground. It shattered around me and into my hands but I didn't care, fumbling to get it out. I couldn't get the 'Proof Tony Stark has a heart' off so I just hoped that it fit with it. Instead I took the wire and pushed it in, mindful of the walls.

As soon as the wire clicked I took my hand out of Tony's chest, clicking the reactor itself into place. It was low power but it would be fine for now. "JARVIS, immediately, and I mean let's express order this, make another reactor from Tony's upgraded design." I said. He gave a soft affirmative, and I knew he had been worried. If Tony hadn't ordered him not to give off warnings of his antics to me I might have known about this.

Tony groaned and I anxiously waited for the arc reactor to pull the pieces of shrapnel a safe distance from his heart, and for him just to not go into cardiac arrest. He was just so pale that I cringed when he took shaky breaths that rattled his whole frame. Smoothing back his hair, I clutched onto his shirt, awaiting his full consciousness.

"Anna." Tony stated, blinking and I smiled in relief when his eyes finally settled on me. It could have been only a few minutes, and it probably was, but it didn't matter. He had blood dripping from his right ear and I wiped it away with a shaky hand. The sight of him lying there, helpless and dying and knowing how close he was to leaving me…it rattled me more than seeing Pepper lifeless on the floor by my hands.

"Tony? Are you alright? Do I need to do anything? Are you hurt anywhere?" I asked, eyeing the rest of him but I couldn't see anything.

"We have to stop him Obadiah, he ordered the hit on us and he took the arc reactor." Tony told me, heaving himself up and I winced.

"I know, Pepper, she…" I put my hand on his shoulder. "When I had the lock chip in, I looked through the files. Obadiah is making his own suit and Pepper was supposed to get the arc reactor from one of us I guess because she accosted me…and we fought and she landed on the broken vase." I wet my lips. "She's dead, Tony." Tony faltered and stared at me. I yelped as I was suddenly wrapped in his arms.

"It had to be done anyways." He muttered, squeezing. I let my own arms circle him and I felt so small in his arms. I was so small and here I was trying to play the hero. How was I supposed to keep Tony safe when I'm so vulnerable?

"I almost lost you." I muttered, pulling back to grab his face. "I don't want to lose you, I've been following you for most of my life, and I don't want to stop now." I put our foreheads together, anything to make sure he was still alive.

"That's ridiculous." Tony said instead. And my eyebrows furrowed. "You don't need to _follow _me." Tony put one of his hands, from around my waist, up to my hair. "Anna, you're better than my shadow, yes I know that's what you think," Tony rolled his eyes most likely my slack expression caused his exasperation. "You got drunk once when we were in college. That's not important. What's important is that you realize you were _always_ more to me then some friend. Before I feel in love with you, you were there for me no matter what. You even came to my defense, when I didn't deserve it. You don't follow me; you lead me in the right direction." He leaned forward before I could argue and pressed his lips to mine and like a predictable women, I melted into his love.

He loved me. He loved me. How could he love me?

"I'm sorry to interrupt." JARVIS border line outright sassed and I flinched when his next words made Tony pull back with a jerk. "But there is a fatal amount of blood currently missing from Miss Vinci's body." Tony looked me over, finally seeing the tie holding my wound together.

"What happened?" Tony asked, tugging the tie off, and sitting me back on my butt as I was bending my knees, causing more blood flow.

"Pepper got a hold of one of the vase shards, that I broke on a wall earlier in the…argument, and shoved it in there. Agent Coulson is taking care of her, and heading toward Sector 16." I told him, grimacing as he took the bandages that Dummy handed down, and the stitches. I took them from his hands. He didn't have any medical training at all.

So I started stitching up my own leg wound right there in front of him as I informed him of everything that was going down, and that Coulson was taking a few agents to grab Obadiah.

"That won't be enough." Tony muttered.

"I know that now." I told him, using scissors that he had got up to hand me to cut my left over thread. "Had I known he actually had the reactor I wouldn't have sent them. We've got to go help."

"We? You are injured-" Tony started but I looked up from smoothing the bandage on to glare at him. He shut up so I must have looked something awful.

"Holy Shit." I heard from the door and I realized that Rhode had arrived, a box of food in his hands that fell to the ground.

**Sorry it's taken so long. I've been kind of busy here since it's the last week now. I really want to know what you guys think of this. I'm not happy with the fighting scene but it is what it is. I'm just not a great action writer I think. Oh well. **

**I really am sorry it's taken so long. I just can't get the Thor story to come out of me. And I really want it to come out at the same time as my Iron man 2 story so I don't know how I'm going to work it out. AH, something to worry about later. **


	18. And The Truth Isn't What You Want To See

"Oh, hey Rhodes." I said, trying to be chipper as I got up, wincing when weight hit my leg. I had absently cut the pants off but I wasn't worried about Rhodes seeing what he shouldn't. Not like I had anything to show but blood down the leg, and some underwear of a secret like nature. I snorted and mildly thought the blood loss might be as dire as JARVIS made it seem. I turned to Tony. "You fill him in, I'm going to get my net suit on, and you'll just have to fly in that." I told him, limping away to the make shift changing area where the suit should be. And there it was.

I slid it on, groaning quit a few times in pain. The thing clung to my wound just as much as the rest of my skin and as I moved out from behind the curtain we'd used I couldn't help but think that for once I'd like some pain killers for this kind of stuff.

As I limped out Rhodes was just staring at Tony who was walking towards me. I became cautious the moment he bent down in front of me. "Tony!" I shouted as he carried me, bridal style of course, to my platform. "That wasn't necessary." I muttered as I stretched out my arms, to put the suit on. It whirled around me, and Tony stepped onto his platform, not commenting.

As the parts came together, I grimaced at the press on my wound but it was a moment of pain and then I realized the suit was stabilizing my wound, it kind of braced it. I grinned as the yellow arms moved away. My faceplate was still up so I stepped down and looked at Rhodes who was watching us getting suited up with this look of awe on his face. It really was a great show to see and even funnier than when we get it off. Well the first time, it should be easier now.

"Pretty cool, huh?" I asked Rhodes, as Tony finished his.

"That's the coolest thing I have ever seen." Rhodes breathed, circling us. Tony turned to watch him but I grinned.

"Thank you, I put a lot of work into keeping him under control with it." I motioned to Tony with my hand.

"How you holding up in there?" Tony asked, glancing at my leg, as if I was going to start bleeding through the armor.

"Perfect, it braces the wound. Honestly, you worry too much." I noted, waving it off. Mildly I thought how odd it was to say that to Tony of all people. "Now come on, we've got to stop Obadiah. I'll bet Pepper talked to him before and he's suiting up to come kill us off now." I rolled my shoulders and the suit followed the movement.

"You need me to do anything else?" Rhodes asked us, as Tony blasted his ruined car out of the way, in favor of going out through the hole. I rolled my eyes. I couldn't wait to explain to Rhodes how that happened. For now I'd settle with making my way out through the garage ramp.

"Keep the skies clear." Tony told him, having snapped his faceplate shut. I snorted and followed suit, always following, no matter what Tony believed. I shot off, out of the ramp as Tony went through his hole in the building. He did come out a little ahead of me but I was worried about a little something else.

"Tony, don't do something stupid, alright." I told Tony. "What's our plan?"

"Uh, I was thinking to attack." Tony said. "Yeah, just attack."

"There are some days I just really wonder about you." I responded dryly. I tried to kick it into higher gear, flying over the city to get to the arc reactor plant. That was where it had shown, when it had been copying the files for Sector 16. Tony laughed over the connection.

"Wonder all you want its genius." Tony, always the proud one. I could just imagine him puffing out his chest.

"Hmmm, coming up on the reactor. How's your power with the arc reactor?" I sobered.

"48%. Wasn't made for sustained flight." He muttered, sobering. My breath caught as I landed, seeing Coulson standing out here. I took a few steps. There was nothing here, and I was really cautious going into an enclosed space, and not knowing what to expect.

"Where's Obadiah?" Tony barked, and I screamed as suddenly, before Coulson could answer, the ground began to crack and open up. I blasted the thrusters to move away from the breaking ground. It wasn't just the ground. A hulking grey form of the armor was coming out of the ground. I realized it was the one the scientists had made. How had they made it? I know for a fact none of them were smart enough to think of how to do it without guidelines or something to build on.

As Obadiah opened up a large gun on his arm to shoot at Coulson, Tony dived, using his thrusters to blast Obadiah away from Coulson. I dropped to guard Coulson. It didn't matter because Tony ended up knocking through the already fragile ground with the heavy armor of Obadiah's. I flew down into the hole, leaving Coulson to make sure he didn't get himself killed.

Somehow, when I got there, Tony had managed to slam into a parked eighteen wheeler and threw to the other street. Obadiah, or Stane knocked a car away when he landed and I hurried to fly over and slam the car to a stop before anyone in it was hurt. The massive armored bodies in the road began to start a pile up and I tried to help by slamming my hands down onto a car that was about to go hood over trunk. In doing so I missed a black SUV that was laying on the breaks, just enough so she didn't slam into Stane.

To my horror he picked the SUV up and was making to slam it into Tony. I tried to get my hands, that had dented the car hood, out but not quick enough. "I love this suit!"

"Put them down!" Tony ordered through his mask. I grunted as someone rear-ended the car I was in and made it go forward to hit me in my metal hips. I yanked my hands free, ignoring the screaming people getting out of their cars and going the other direction.

"Collateral damage, Tony." Was Stane's only response.

"Divert power to chest RT." Tony ordered and I watched the energy blast knock even Stane's heavy weight off. As he did I turned my thrusters on and I jumped forward to get under the SUV and rest it on my shoulders. The sudden weight was mostly taken by the armor, but it caused me to drop to one knee, whining one long strained noise.

"I've got them." I told Tony, only to yell as I went to put her down and she hit the gas.

"Lady!" Tony yelled, and in the sputter of sparks being let off via my armor on the ground I could see him hanging onto the front.

"Sir's power is at 19%." JARVIS informed me.

"Tony let go!" I shouted, and lifted the back of the carriage. When Tony followed my orders his suit was also carried under the car, and he knocked me out from under the car, followed by himself as he got out before the under carriage knocked us out. I groaned as my other wound was pressed harshly against the stitches and armor. I didn't get up in time and Stane's foot slammed down on my suit, as he landed near us.

I screamed, forgetting about the speakers that let Tony hear. Tony turned around from where he'd been getting up, just in time to get a motorcycle to the body, slamming him over a few parked cars and to a bus, whose passengers were already fleeing the scene. Stane crushed down with his foot but followed after Tony, letting up on me. I rose up as quickly as possible, stumbling something horrible. Pain was blossoming in my sides despite the suit taking the brunt of the attack.

"Massive damage has been done to the spinal connection." JARVIS said, putting a picture of the damage up for me. I frowned and turned around where Stane and Tony were fighting, or Stane was giving his massive speech.

"-from nothing!" He said, slamming his food on Tony. I rested my hands on the ground, stretching out my back leg, waiting for the moment that I could take him out. "Nothing is going to stand in my way!" Stane threw Tony into the bus, crushing it inward. I waited, as he locked his boots to the ground, a large missile coming out of his shoulder, aiming at Tony who was somewhere grunting in the bus.

I pushed off the ground with the thrusters _just_ as he shot the missile, grabbing it out of the air and sending it back to Stane. It didn't do much damage, but enough for Tony to shoot out of the bus with his own thrusters. I kicked off to get out of the way of Stane's swinging arm and rose to be next to Tony.

"How you holding up?" I called to Tony, watching Stane closely. He didn't give me an answer but his damage flew across the top of my screen. Low power in the arc reactor and strain on the abdomen's hinges, and the faceplate.

"Impressive, you've upgraded your armors!" Stane told me, almost laughing at us. As if we weren't flying out of his range. "I've made some upgrades of my own." My eyes widened in shock as he literally began to take off like a human rocket, slow but gaining speed fast. I shot off upwards.

"Anna if he can fly he'll out last us." Tony said, looking down at him as Stane began to rise, but he was following me. "I've got an idea." His faceplate turned to me as I flew up. "Let's see if he ices."

"No, not we." I told him, kicking the thrusters.

"What?" Tony asked me, speeding up as well. "I'm not letting you handle him alone-"

"You've got very low power on your suit. If your power fails you'll be stuck in that suit with a slow arc reactor to keep you alive." I argued, but it didn't matter because now Stane was going fast and we had no choice but to keep flying upwards. "If you fall out of the sky, this time I'm not catching you." I panicked through the communication line. He didn't answer as we were climbing up.

I looked back as we cut through the clouds. There was ice building on the suit, but just as steadily the flashing red number of Tony's arc reactor power was going down. "Damn it Obadiah, climb faster." I whispered, trying to lure him higher and higher.

"Seven percent power." JARVIS finally cut in.

"Just leave it on the screen stop telling me." Tony shouted, and I could see the grimace.

"Tony-" I yelled, about to turn around and grab for him but I was too high, and so was Stane. He was leaving a long, wide line of smoke behind him. I was too high to help as Tony was grasped by Obadiah, and they were still climbing to which I was thankful, because the more he climbed the more he iced up. Though I did cut my thrusters on lower power so that I could get to Tony if he needed it, we should be high enough.

"You had a great idea, Tony." Stane was saying to Tony. I could hear it through Tony's own receivers. "But your suits are both outdated, and mine is better in every way!" He sounded so triumphant that it made me grin grimly.

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony asked. I wasn't about to let him get all the credit, ignoring that it was his idea, so I barreled downward just as Stane answered.

"Icing problem?" And ironically his suit cut off power and then I hit him, and he started falling quickly. Because Stane didn't have any power he couldn't reach out to grab me so I steadied myself next to Tony.

"You know what; I'm good for now, you?" I turned to him. "Why don't we go get some chicken? I could use some McNuggets right now." I slowly began to descend, looking around for a McDonald's. And then I was surprised by JARVIS' voice and Tony's abrupt fall, and then being caught.

"Sir's armor is now at two percent." JARVIS told me. "We are now running on emergency back-up power." I dropped my hand thrusters, wrapping my armor's arms around the upper part of his abdomen.

"JARVIS, shut his suit down and preserve the arc reactor's energy until we get to the ground." I ordered, turning us towards the ground, aiming for the closest and easiest building, the same building that Stane had come out of. When I got closer I realized that Coulson was still there, and was watching with a composed face, which is more then I can say for most people.

Instead of sitting Tony down on the ground I sat him down on the roof, laying him out because his suit wouldn't be movable. Grabbing the lever I manually popped open his faceplate.

"Hey there handsome." I joked, as he shook his head. At least the neck metals were manual and moved without power.

"What happened to 'if you fall I'm not catching you?'" Tony joked and I scowled, thinking about hitting him until I realized doing so would probably give him a concussion or worse with the strength behind the armor.

"I decided I liked you too much to let you become a pancake. Although I do love pancakes." I pretended to rethink my decision. My hands moved to start taking his armor off, first his hand and I started to work on the wrist but Tony's warning shout of my name stopped me. It was for not, because with no warning a large grey metal hand was around my neck. My faceplate automatically slid shut as Stane threw me back against a wall for the door to get up here. I landed on the floor, groaning from the impact but I was up again as soon as possible.

Forget about Tony being the one with the concussion. I turned back around from where I landed to see Tony getting squeezed. "JARVIS, turn his power on and cut the flares on." I ordered. It took a second for JARVIS to cut on in the suit, especially with Tony's middle threatening to bend under Stane's grip. When it did the flares shot off and I watched Tony drop and roll away. I didn't hide, acting to distract Stane with my presence. I kicked up and thrust my foot into his head. He automatically went up to grab it and I sent a thruster shot directly into his face mask.

"Anna." Tony's whispered voice came through. "I've muted your output voice. I've got an idea." Tony told me. I whined in return as Stane grabbed my leg, sending me slamming down to the ground.

"Yeah, I could use it." I groaned out, shooting a bit away from Stane to regain myself. I took the moment to look at Tony's states. His missiles and thrusters were offline, and his midsection took a great deal of damage. I put up my arm, shooting off a low key missile, trying to aim it into his suit, and not at the admittedly battered outer casing. Unfortunately he moved, causing the missile to slam into the chest part, not doing much damage.

"While you're distracting him I'll rip what I can out of the vulnerable part of the neck in his suit. Call your friend downstairs and get him working on charging the arc reactor and-" Tony didn't have to explain what he wanted.

"Got it, yeah. After you rip it out get off the roof and get to the house. The arc reactor should be ready by then." I told him, as Stane grabbed at me, but I was smaller and faster than him, knocking one of his legs out by barreling into it. I heard the grunt and obscenities but I backed up again, just to get right back in and put repetitive fists into his face. He returned by grabbing onto me as he would have Tony.

"JARVIS connect me to Coulson, make it fast." I ordered, sending off my own flares and instead of running like Tony had I kicked out and shot the thrusters at the same time, actually managing to hit something because steam came out of his arm.

"Coulson." The Agent answered.

"Are you still on the ground in front of the building?" I asked, no time for pleasantries as I rolled out of the way as he slammed his good arm down on the ground where I'd been. I glanced at the diagram of the damage I'd taken. One more hit to my wounded leg, ironically, and I'd be hauling it around.

"What can I do?" Coulson returned.

"Go to the center of the control room, the first room that had the reactor in it, and open all of the circuits." I told him, stopping in my instructions as Stane slammed a fist into my chest, sending me both reeling back into the air, and gasping for breath. I got back down to the ground quickly, not wanting to send him back in the air. He wouldn't fall for that again.

"Come here you little bitch!" Stane cursed at me and I rolled my eyes at his unimaginative insult. Just then Tony must have seen an opening because he jumped on Stane's back, digging his hand into the wires at the back.

"This looks important!" He shouted, ripping wiring out left and right.

"Alright Coulson, don't hit the master bypass button until we get clear of the roof," I finished informing. "It's the red button, but don't open it with a bullet, because it'll send shocks through the room. The key is just in the cabinet under it. Press on the panel." I told him.

"I've got it." He returned, and I looked down through the glass to see the reactor was indeed going crazy. While I was looking Stane somehow had sent a missile, probably aiming for Tony and getting me instead. As it blew me away I ended up toppling over the side. Trying my hardest not to flinch at the excessive heat, even as the cooling system kicked on in my suit to save me from the heat, I grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling myself up.

"Loss of thrusters on impact of missile. Also severe damage to weapons cargo." JARVIS supplied.

"Oh that's just _great_." I grunted, trying to scramble up from the side of the roof. Tony had been thrown into the middle of the glass skylight that had been built for the arc reactor. Somehow Stane had ripped off his face mask. Speaking of Stane, he was currently open suit and speaking.

"I never had a taste for this kind of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit." Stane said and I noticed Tony's head armor getting smashed altogether in Stane's grip. "You finally outdid yourself Tony!" I panicked, trying to get Stane's attention away from the very vulnerable Tony.

"Hey! I did do something." I shouted, picking myself up on the roof, finally. Stane turned to look at me.

"Oh but you did something much more remarkable. Has Potts told you? She seemed to think you were scheming against her." Stane dug. I flinched but it was unnoticeable in the suit.

"I don't know, do you mean after she died?" I snarled back but he only laughed.

"That just means I don't have to kill her later. Thanks for doing my work for me." Stane said, picking up his arm and about to shot off a missile.

"Hey!" Tony shouted. I groaned, running in the suit to try and stand in front of him. I got there in time just for Stane to shot off bullets from his arm cannon. Thankfully most of them went completely off the mark. Though I did take the ones meant for Tony's head, huddling over his unprotected part. But then I had to abandon that as the glass feel out from under us. Tony managed to grab on to the medal steel and I followed his lead holding a piece of the steel that once held the glass.

"How ironic! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it the best one!" Stane said.

"Anytime now Coulson!" I shouted into the still open line. I heard a louder hum of power down from the reactor before he answered.

"It's ready." Coulson told me.

"Then as soon as you press the button run out of the room." I told him, scrambling as Stane took a step forward, almost losing my grip. I moved my head away as Stane shot off a missile, missing us but that didn't mean the next few would. I glanced at Tony, frowning, mind racing. I looked around us; I had to save him somehow. He was finally going to be happy and he would _not _be killed while I could stand it. Ah-ha. There was a catwalk. Off to the left of us and just a few feet out of the way of the reactor, and out of Stane's view.

"Coulson," I started slowly. "You ever played Russian roulette?" I asked him before, just as Stane shot another useless missile, I kicked Tony just right, with JARVIS' help. Tony's grip faltered and his head turned to look at me with confusion and betrayal but I ignored both it and the pain of it and kicked him one last time in the upper chest, sending him down, right onto the edge of the catwalk. He scrambled onto it and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Now to worry about me.

"Clever." Stane called out, laughing. I popped open my own faceplate. It wouldn't help me here. "But it doesn't matter. I'm going to kill you, and then I'll go after him." He said. I shouted.

"COULSON!" Before I released the metal, I closed the faceplate holding my breath and praying that it would somehow help. If my calculations were right this was going to hurt, but I would have enough reactor power to take it.

The pain was much worse than I expected. The last thing I could remember before it was the shout of Tony's realization and my name. The rest I could remember is getting blasted up in the beam and coming down on the roof, knocking my busted leg, shattering whatever control I'd had over it. That didn't really mattered because of the energy that had transferred from the reactor blast, to the suit, and then to me.

The only way I could describe it was as if it was being shot by lightening, and feeling like all of your insides were being burnt off and your outside was just freezing up, icing over and crawling off.

My mind blacked out about the fifth convulsion.

**I heard Tony's grunt beside me as the pain blossomed in my chest, the part that the mine had really hit home. I couldn't think through the pain that started. I couldn't remember what the mine did, but I knew that if it really was built at Stark & Vinci then I may not live long enough to do any kind of living.**

"**Tony?" I whispered, trying to crawl around. My voice came out sluggish. I managed to turn enough to see him laying there a few feet away, having been hit as well. My head was punded and liquid was starting to coat my forehead and I couldn't see anything but blurs. I could see him in pain though, as much as I was. My inability to concentrate was making it hard to tell. "Tony!" I tried to yell but the pain just got worse and worse until suddenly black started taking over my vision and the pain took over every sense before I blacked out and felt nothing.**

**I don't remember what quite happened after the bomb hit. I know I woke up for a few moments, just a few to see myself in front of a camera, and someone beside me. My chest still hurt painfully, horribly, life-threateningly. **_**Oh God where is the relief? **_**But my arms were tied up behind my back, and my head was being pulled back via my hair, I could do nothing. I screamed as someone dug their fingers into the bullet wound on my arm and the pain in my chest worsened by the second. Someone must be digging their claws into my heart. I heard an answering scream of my name from somewhere. **

"**Anna!" I heard a male voice. I knew that male voice. It's deep, rich tones and it's beauty. My eyes, bloodshot and leaking salty, burning tears met the sight of a banged up Tony Stark, with wounds bleeding from bandages on his chest and dirty scraps of clothing hanging from him. A video camera in front of us both. **

"**Tony!" I screamed, fighting. I had to help him, whether it hurt or not. God it hurt. Every movement sent pain that went beyond any kind of pain that I've ever experienced. Tony needed me; I promised that I'd be there for him. "No!" I screamed as someone hit Tony over the head, right before I was thrown into the world of the unconscious myself.**

**Then there were flashes where I woke up in unbearable pain, so much worse from before and I screamed until even my throat hurt. Men over me, my arms and legs being held down. Someone sticking something circular in my chest. I screamed as my heart beat erratically against something medal. A smelly cloth being held over my mouth, vaguely my mind registered chloroform as I sunk into oblivion for a while longer.**

Okay. I know this has been a long time coming. I've had quite a few things to do though, so please bare with me. I've wrote enough of the Thor story that I should be able to get the Iron man 2 story up and the Thor at the same time. I'm not promising though so just bare with me. I'm currently unsure about a lot of things.

I'm hoping you enjoyed this, and it wasn't too confusing. Some parts I had to re-read to understand what I wrote. I hope you get it, and that you like this chapter. There is only ONE more chapter in this story. I bet you all know what's in that chapter!


	19. In The Dark It Is Easy To Pretend

"Anna?" Tony's voice fluttered through. My eyebrows creased. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be dying in the desert. Memories seemed to almost just flutter from the sky. Nothing hurt like it was supposed to, even when I could remember an almost phantom seeming pain.

"Go 'way." I slurred through heavy lips. I felt like I should put some kind of emotion behind the words but it all seemed superficial. My eyelids were so heavy and I didn't want to open them. I didn't want to see myself back in the cave, even if I'd get to see Yinsen again.

"Anna, come on." Tony whined and I frowned. Why would he want me to open my eyes when I was fine like this? Going back to sleep wasn't a good option though. I was awake but just fluttering. My limbs were so numb and almost felt like they weren't my limbs but someone else's limbs. That probably should have worried me.

Nonetheless my eyes forced themselves open. My eyebrows unfurrowed so they could lift. Tony's face was right in mine. Maybe if I still had a bit of feeling I might have flinched but for now I just met his eyes and blinked.

"Tony?" I questioned, swallowing. Looking behind him I could see a familiar ceiling and feel, even see, the reason for my sluggishness. An IV was running down into what I suppose would be my arm and over to one side to my surprise Dummy and YOU were waiting. "What's going on?"

"You're being taken care of by your doctor of course." Tony said, trying to remain serious but even in this state I could see Tony's worry and amusement.

"You look pretty." I giggled, raising my arms, fumbling with them to cover my giggle.

"You're so high." He grinned. "Dummy's been worried and pumping you full of morphine for too long of a time." Tony told me, and he squeezed my hand, making me realize he was holding it. How odd. The times I'd been in the hospital before, from something not so drastic maybe, he hadn't been holding my hand. Yeah, he'd been by my side for it but I don't ever remember this happening. It made me feel warm and I'm sure a doped up smile was on my face.

"Yes." I answered, even though there was no question being answered. "I worried about him to." I started and I couldn't remember that I should stop about now. "When you made him I thought you'd get too attached and he'd break, but then I got attached and he didn't break." I laughed loudly. "What am I on?" I asked, curiously.

"I told you, morphine." He said glancing between me and the bag. I couldn't tell if he was more amused, intrigued, or scared for my life.

"Get it out." I told him. "I'm talking funny."

"It's better to be talking funny then to be feeling the amount of pain you should be." Tony said, and this time the pain was obvious in his face. Vaguely the memory of the same face but with a little more betrayal in it popped into my head, kind of foggy.

"Sorry I kicked you." I muttered, smiling what I hope was a sheepish smile. Tony didn't answer for a moment and I opened my mouth to speak again but he leaned forward and kissed my gapping mouth. I shut it to return the kiss as best as I could. What little sanity I was getting back was just thrown out the windows of the mansion and into the Malibu waves. He even went so far as to press his arc reactor to mine and even through his shirt and my….

"What am I wearing?" I shrieked, pushing him away to pull up the blanket. _Nothing._

"Uh, well I had a trusted doctor or two in here to make sure everything was alright and they said putting clothes on you would only transfer their energy to you." Tony said and to my surprise and internal delight he was actually blushing.

"JARVIS snap shot of Tony's face!" I quickly said. Tony looked confused before he rolled his eyes. I grinned but then scowled when I remembered why he was blushing. Curse this morphine. My hand lifted to scratch at the IV but Tony pulled it away and entangled our hands again. He had parted them to ruffle my hair while kissing me. "For future reference, if I wake up naked again, I'm not going to be happy, morphine or not." I warned, already tugging to make sure the blanket was pulled up so it didn't show anything of me.

"I'll be happy." Tony answered with a straight face. I took a moment to look at him but he didn't crack so I did. My laughter came out strained this time because I was completely flat. So I braced one arm under me and kept the other around my chest so the blanket didn't show anything.

"What happened?" I finally asked the question that was on my mind.

"With what?" Tony blinked before he was back on earth. I must not have been the only one to be on drugs right now. "Oh. After you kicked me onto the catwalk Coulson let off the arc reactor's built up energy. Both Stane and you were caught in the blast. Stane died but your reactor absorbed enough of the blast. You've been out for three days." He sat back a bit in his chair. "The energy shocked your heart and made it pretty feeble." He glanced at it shortly and I frowned looking down.

The arc reactor's color was almost purple. Some of the parts were still blue, but the rest of it was a purple color. "Why did it change color?" I touched it and the part I touched turned blue.

"It just the excess energy. The original charge from the miniature arc reactor had a charge of 34% when you were hit and the blast leveled it up to about 156%. The purple should go away once the palladium gets used to holding that much power, or if the power seeps out." He explained, while I eyed the reactor and then him.

"And why am I not in the hospital?" I asked.

"I didn't want them to get their hands on the reactor, but doctors did look at you." Tony assured me. "Besides, they said to take you off the meds after you woke up, so that your body didn't get addicted." He said, but didn't make a move towards the meds.

"Well?" I asked him, lifting an eyebrow and then chuckled as I realized he didn't know how to do it. "Just shut the valve on the tube and then pull the tape off after the tube had given the last that is in it. Take the needle out." I instructed. Maybe I should go back and get my medical degree. After all I know quite a lot about medicine, or injuries. And it looks like I'm going to need that knowledge a lot more now than I would have then.

My eyes crossed as Tony pulled the needle out, gently but pulled it out all the same. I reached over and closed the tape back over the wound to stem off the blood. "There that wasn't so bad." I noted, trying to sit up more and at once my world became kind of tipsy and I had to stop. I put a hand to my head, grimacing and letting out any breath in my lungs.

"Thank you." Tony said in answer. My eyebrows furrowed and I licked my lips, letting my hand fall back to my side on top of the blanket.

"Uh, what for?" I asked him, blinking multiple times.

"For getting me out of trouble, not just with Stane, but even daily." Tony told me, and he leaned on the bed as I stuffed the pillows up under me so at least my upper body was at an angle.

"Don't get used to it." I warned. "I swear, and I mean it this time, I'm not going to do it again. Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? If I hadn't been running on instinct I would have wasted enough time to kill you myself." I reached forward and scratched lightly at the edge of his odd facial hair. "Have I ever told you that I love your facial hair?"

"Um, no," Tony said, confused. "But thank you."

"One day I'll have beautiful hair again. We'll have to make my suit capable of holding it up." I turned my head to stare out the window in contemplation. "I bet all I'll need is a suction cup at the back to suck the hair up into." Tony squeezed my hand and I turned my head to see his light smile.

"You're such an optimistic." Tony teased.

"And you're a closet romantic." I noted, running my fingers lightly, tracing, the hair on his face. It was a little overgrown and I could see whiskers growing on his neck. He looked just as good like that, but it made me want to run my fingers over it, and his lips. His gorgeous and very talented lips. "Are we naming things about each other now?" I asked him, leaning up to brush my lips against his hypnotizing ones. He grunted and moved back after pressing his own to mine.

"Please. I'd win." Tony grinned lopsidedly and I think a little part of my heart just flew off to dance with the gypsies.

"Hardly. I know a lot about you. Like the fact you always sleep on the left side of the bed, you hate wearing a shirt around people, and if there is any way you can you'll make everyone in the room hate you just so you don't get any hope that they'll like you." I bluntly said. He frowned and I dropped my hand. "I know a _great _deal about you, Tony Stark. After all I'm your best friend."

"No," Tony said, he rose up still holding my hand and actually climbed over me in a delicious way to drop beside me. "You're my girlfriend. I know that you love Johnny Depp but hate Winona Ryder. You can't leave without assuring I'm right beside you because your mother left you alone in a room for two days because your Nanny was sick. And finally I know that you are in love with me." Tony dropped down to press his lips hard against mine. Legitimately, I was surprised. I didn't think that Tony noticed much of anything about me.

"To be honest I didn't even know you knew I existed that much." I licked my lips, trying to trap his taste of mouth in my own. I have to treasure what I've got as long as I've got it. "I knew you thought of me as your friend, maybe even your best friend but I figured the only time that you might have liked me was when my breasts came in." I chuckled.

"Oh, I noticed." Tony muttered, and his eyes drifted to my chest, which was bare besides the sheets and blankets that kept them covered. I scowled and tugged it up to my shoulder more.

"Stop being a man." I muttered, squeezing his hand before releasing it to shuffle down and under the covers while curling up to him. I may have been naked but he was on the outside of the blankets and I was tired already. "I'm going to sleep some more, why don't you?" I asked him, smiling when he tucked me right under his arm without a word of my nudeness.

"I was actually going to go work on the armors." Tony said, eyeing the door.

"Okay, just stay until I fall asleep." I told him, wrapping an arm absentmindedly around his narrow waist so I could snuggle closer.

"For a little while." He agreed and I noticed his voice was a little strained. I brushed it aside for latter so that I could fall into a more comfortable, but kind of painful sleep as the medicine wore off. That's the one thing about morphine, here one moment and gone the next.

"You all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark & Vinci last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately a member of…." Rhodes voice was coming lightly through the T.V. in the conference room. How ironic that this message we were about to give was going to be given at the same location that we announced that we were shutting down the weapons.

I pursed my lips as I dabbed a few dots of foundation on to Tony's bruise. My make-up was a little thicker then I would usually wear but it covered up what it was supposed to.

"Is this necessary?" Tony complained, even as he read the newspaper's report on us. I glanced down at the front of the paper where a picture of us both was taken, with Tony in the front. Thank God for that because that was at the point that my middle had been crushed and my boobs had been squeezed close together.

"Yes, it is. Do you want to look as if you were in a bar fight?" I asked him, leaning down to see if I've got it all covered. Camera people will always catch what you don't want them to and then the people watching will point it out and then it'll be just a big deal. I've been up and going since I woke up and found Tony still snoozing next to me. Tony's face looked alright. A white strip was across his nose to help with the slight fracture he had.

"Hey, Iron Man." Tony said, looking up. "That's not bad. It's kind of catchy." I frowned and looked at the newspaper.

"Really? Iron Woman? Do these people have no imagination?" I asked, snorting and peeling off the white strip and leaning back. Currently I was sitting down, cross-legged on the table. I was wearing a pair of black slacks and a green shirt that happened to cover my arc reactor.

"I don't know, I think it's great. It matches." Tony grinned and I rolled my eyes, tugging his hair.

"It sounds like a command." I muttered, snapping the foundation closed and putting it down on the desk so that I could tug my own clothes into order. "It's not even correct. The suites made of gold-titanium alloy."

"Yeah, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway." Tony argued, looking at the newspaper. I watched the screen; we were still waiting for our cue cards before we could go on.

"Here's your alibi." Coulson's voice came through. I turned from the T.V. to grab the cards and look them over. It was great actually. "You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from 50 of your guests." Coulson listed off as I read the note cards, looking up a few times. Tony laid down the newspaper and looked at me.

"See I was thinking maybe we should say that it was just Anna and me, alone on the island." Tony said and then wiggled his eyebrows at me. I laughed and plucked at his hair tightly making him wince.

"Let's stick with the written, and secure, plan." I tucked a few hairs behind my head. A clip was holding most of my hair back and I smiled when Tony tugged on my shirt, twitching a laugh at him.

"Read it word for word." Coulson said, giving up on Tony and trying me.

"I noticed that there's nothing about Stane and Potts in here." I said, waving the cards.

"Potts has been handled, and Stane is being handled. He's currently on vacation." Coulson answered. "Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." He moved his head and I swallowed at the course way of mentioning both of their deaths. I'd taken Potts' life with my own hands. How was I supposed to deal with that so calmly?

"But what about the whole cover story that they were our body guards?" Tony asked, questioning. I eyed him to make sure his hair was perfect and his cover up before I walked a step over to the mirror that was hanging on the wall. It was time to see if any of my own had smudged.

"He's my…Is that…That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?" Tony asked. I turned sharply to look back at him and roll my eyes.

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark." Coulson said but Tony wasn't impressed, or he tried not to be. Coulson had gained a little tiny bit of respect because he'd been the one to flip the switch when we needed it. Secretly though, I could just see the built up resentment Tony already had for my father's company. Man, I really have got to get used to saying my company. "Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will be behind you."

I groaned aloud. "Please, don't give him orders. He sees it as a challenge." I told Coulson, turning back to the mirror and eyeing the thick layer of make-up. Barely noticeable really but to me it was. My face felt like I was overbalancing on it.

"You've got…" Coulson looked at the T.V. screen. "90 seconds." And walked away. I stared after him and then back at the T.V. screen. How did that help him know what time was left? Maybe Rhodes was just following a prewritten agenda to.

"Oh, Agent Coulson!" I called, walking to the little hallway that he was about to vanish through. "I wanted to say thank you very much, for your help. I'd be prepared to battle for you some vacation days, or something with Director Fury if you need me to." I joked, grinning.

"It's just my job. That's what we do. You'll of course be expected to sign a report with us." Coulson informed me and I groaned.

"I've done so much paperwork since I woke up." I whined jokingly before calming down. "Did you get the other memo?" I asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" He asked. "I'm impressed. We've had people working on that for a month."

"It's a gift. They come to me in my sleep and I write them down." I called as he walked away. I liked him, even if he did almost cause me to die via energy blast. It really wasn't the man's fault that he was following my orders. He was just doing his job. Now that I think about it, I was of higher rank then him, being the owner. Huh, I should look into that. "Okay," I turned to Tony who was fiddling with his tie, trying to get it back in order. I walked to him, grabbing the suit jacket that had been thrown over the back of a chair. "You ready to be our spokesperson?" I teased him.

"As I always am." Tony said, sticking the blue cards into his mouth as I helped him into the suit jacket. "You know, the alibi, it's not actually that bad. Even I don't think you're Iron Woman." He told me, taking the cards out of his mouth as I started to undo his tie so I could fix his mess.

"That's because I'm not." I argued, jerking a little too tightly on the tie.

"Are so." He returned. I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly to show my displeasure.

"Don't start with me Tony, I'm this close to finding a wall and slapping myself with it." I held up my fingers an inch apart.

"Anyways, since we are, you know dating. This is all going to be a wreck. We'll be worrying about each other in battles, taking risks we don't need to and running late for dates…"Tony muttered and my fingers stopped working on the tie because it was finished. Instead I watched in amusement as he began to talk himself into a metaphorical corner.

"If you are ever late for a date and it is Iron man related, then I had better be right there by your side." I muttered, getting close to his lips and just to tease him because I _could_ do that now; I licked my lips which caused my tongue to brush his lips. "Will that be all ?" I breathed, hooking my leg around his hip. He made a noise as his hands went to my waist.

"Twenty seconds." Coulson's voice came through the hall. I backed away from Tony at the same time he came back from me and we straightened our clothes in embarrassment, or I did. I don't even know if Tony can be embarrassed.

"That was your fault." I warned, pointing at him as I began walking down the hallway. "I'll be in the back of the press room. Try not to embarrass me." I commented. Just as I began to push the door open he grabbed my waist and pushed me against the white wall and forced his lips onto mine in a fierce show of his lust and my stomach began to heat and pool. My cheeks flushed as I instinctually buried my fingers in his lush brown hair and pushed my tongue to meet his as he opened my mouth.

My legs came off the ground and I wrapped them around him.

"Umm…" Someone said and Tony groaned before turning to look back at some poor unfortunate soul who was able to get a free shot of Tony and I. He had short brown hair, glasses with thick rims and he was kind of adorable, in the sixteen year old kid kind of way. I dropped to the floor again and pushed Tony back.

"Sorry." I said, noticing the camera around his neck. "Are you here for the press conference? We're about to go on in-" I looked at my watch. "Five seconds. _Tony_." I warned and he rolled his eyes but didn't bother fixing his clothes, instead pulling me out with him and leaving us both mussed. My cheeks were still flushed from my arousal but now they were joined by the heat of my embarrassment as the reporters began to flash pictures and shout questions about just what we were doing. I'm going to kill Tony for this.

"We will not be taking questions!" I shouted over them, moving down the row, disengaging from Tony. I was not going to be the one to lie to the press. That would be Tony's problem, because as of the moment he made me his girlfriend he started paying me back for all the crap he put me through. Though, I still didn't believe he had feelings for me, much less loved me. It is Tony Stark, and that was never just part of his façade.

"Uh, Been awhile since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." Tony pulled them out of his pocket and the reporters laughed lightly. Not too loud because the Lord knows they can't miss anything he says. I made my way to stand next to Coulson in the back of the room. He nodded to me and I smiled before turning to watch Tony.

"First off, I would like to officially announce that _yes_ Anna and I are dating." Tony stated and I rolled my eyes, he was already off the cards. "But that clearly isn't the issue here." He looked at the blue cards. "There's been speculation that Ms. Vinci and I were involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop.-" He was doing good but then I a reporter, one I recognized from the party, interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was two bodyguards just conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you-" Tony, never the one to be out done interrupted her as well.

"This isn't going well." I muttered to Coulson. He nodded, his shoulders strained and eyes sharp.

"I know that it's confusing." Tony's face was condescending rather than angry like he should be. Oh, this was bad. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

"I never said you were a superhero."

"Oh, shit. I should have done this." I groaned, speed walking back up the aisle.

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly." Tony saw me coming and his eyes were trained on me even as he continued talking. "With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made,-" I mounted the stairs.

"Stick to the cards." I harshly whispered and tucked myself into his side, smiling as if I wasn't about to step on all ten of his toes, not caring about his leather shoes.

"Yeah right. The cards." Tony muttered, holding up the cards. "The truth is…" He paused, dropping the cards slowly. I watched the crowd but the longer the silence went the more uneasy I got. He looked down at me and then back at the press. Then he smirked at Everhart. I knew it was going to come out of his mouth before he said it.

"I am Iron man."

"No, don't even touch me." I snarled at Tony, jumping out of the limo. After escaping from the chaos his announcement caused we'd drove back to Tony's house in complete silence. To say I was furious was beyond the level of anger I had in me right now.

"Anna-" Tony started to argue.

"Don't even with me right now!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air as I walked out of the garage part and through the workshop, muttering curse words as I rubbed the MIT ring around on my ring in annoyance. "The whole, _entire _point of that press conference was to make them believe we had no clue what happened. Do you even understand the level of backlash that you've just created?" I turned to him, having stopped walking. For a moment I just fumed at his face before making exhaling a forceful, frustrated breath from my mouth and tossing the phone in my hand at the closest table.

"It was for the best! If we had kept a charade up it would have caused just as many problems as-" Tony started, untying his tie.

"No, no it isn't. The level of stupidity- JARVIS pull up the theory we had going last time I was here- is beyond comprehension at this point. While I agree keeping the secret would have caused problems, it would have been _manageable _problems." I scowled, moving forward as he couldn't get the tie off. Honestly, how did he manage in his day to day life?

Apparently well. He dropped the tie back to his chest in favor of wrapping me in his arms. I ignored the tingling feelings in my stomach and concentrated on my anger and the tie in my hands. So it was a trick. I knew a grown man had to be capable of taking off his tie.

"I could honestly strangle you right now, if I didn't treasure my own self." I warned him, sharply tugging the tie off of his neck, trying to pull away but Tony only pulled me snugger against him.

"Anna, calm down." Tony said, moving his head as he spoke, like he normally did. He added in puppy eyes and I faltered. Tony was so good at those. I liked to pretend they didn't work, but who can say no to his face? At all times it's either adorable or down right sexy.

"Explain." I ordered.

"Look, this way we could work it into our official life, with less problems. Yes, there will be major back lash, but think about it. Were you really going to be able to keep going with lying to the press? How soon do you think it would be before we slipped up in front of the press?" Tony made a solid argument, I'll give him that.

"Apparently not long, since you were tripping within the first three sentences." I sighed, wiggling out of his arms. "I can't believe you just did that. I'm going to be in so much trouble with S.H.I.E.L.D. for this." I picked at my shirt, trying to get some air down it.

"I didn't even tell them you were Iron Woman." Tony said, starting to unbutton his shirt. I snorted, even as I eyed the flesh he was reveling, until it was stopped by the undershirt at least.

"Really? It won't be that hard for them to guess. Seeing as I never leave your side, and the suit and I are the same height, I'm currently the only female that you know enough to trust with a suit, or one smart enough to help you build it. It's not _rocket _science." I ranted, before running out of air, frowning as Tony's face only stayed blank for a moment before he started laughing hysterically. "This isn't funny!" I shouted.

"Ma'am, you're research on palladium and its effects on the human body have been compiled." I scowled and waved it aside.

"Thank you JARVIS, sweetheart." I added the nickname just because I was pissed at Tony, not JARVIS. Speaking of our little robot family I noticed that behind Tony both YOU, Dummy, and Butterfingers, who I had not seen hid or hair of in _forever_ since his _accident _with the blow torch. I squealed and ran to skid in front of butterfingers. "Hello, Butterfingers." I ran my fingers over him, petting him essentially.

"Hey? Am I ignored for Butterfingers?" Tony pouted, walking to me and the suddenly flocking robots. "Figures. Women." He muttered. I turned to glare over my shoulder.

"You have to gain my trust back." I mock sneered. He pouted before suddenly brightening.

"How about a date in Italy?" He asked. My attention finally went to him.

"What?" I asked.

"We haven't went on a date, you know those things people who are in a relationship-"

"Don't be a smartass Tony." I quipped, tickling under Dummy's arm. He made a few pleased beeping sounds, even as I walked passed him, and the strangely following Tony of course went with me. This Tony was so strange. Not uncomfortable, but different. I've never known Tony to be in love besides when he was in love with Pepper- Potts. What does that mean? Ugh.

"I can't help it, I'm a genius-" Tony started.

"That joke got old two weeks after your IQ test." I told him, sitting down in my rolling chair. The cover to JARVIS' report was shown on the screen in front of it and I sighed.

"What is that?" Tony asked, dragging his chair over and sitting in it backwards.

"I had JARVIS logging the results of the arc reactor on our bodies. At first there were problems with our body adapting to the arc reactor itself but there's since been a bigger problem with the levels of palladium that are entering our bodies and contaminating our blood system." I told him, flipping open the file.

"So is that a no to Venice?" Tony questioned. A half-smile took over my face even as I read how high our palladium levels were getting, the speed of toxicity was growing.

"Hmmmm…" I answered. "I never said Venice. What if I wanted to go to Florence? I've never made it to actually tour around Italy. JARVIS print this I'll read it on the plane." I turned to Tony finally and just stared at him.

With everything that's happened, starting with the day that we were kidnapped, I could say with complete confidence that I don't know what happened. It was almost a whirlwind. It had its low points, its dramatic drops but it also had its highs. To be honest with myself I still didn't believe that Tony felt anything for me. I'm just a short girl with a lot of money, which he has. Anything I have he has. So what could he possibly want from me that he can't have from someone else – that he hasn't had from someone else?

"Alright. I say we turn this into a vacation." Tony proposed, getting up to grab the papers as they came out of the desk printer. When I say desk printer I mean a slit in the desk next to us that pushed paper out so that it stacked, as long as the stack didn't get too big. "You like history, don't you? You ever seen the Coliseum?" Tony asked. "JARVIS warn our crew that we want to fly to Venice."

Even with the advancements, I was strangely content. Though soon I'd have to worry about finding a secretary that could handle Tony and maybe even look into one for me.

"Alright, I'll go with you. Let me pack." I told him, getting up but he stopped me.

"No, no. That's the experience. I'll buy you some clothes when we get there. Maybe we should go to…." Tony's face screwed up. "JARVIS what's that place with all of the models?"

"I believe you mean Milan, sir." JARVIS answered in a detached sarcastic tone. I looked to the screen as a video of models walking down the runway showed, in Milan I'm guessing. JARVIS even showed a few open hotel rooms, and a report on the weather there.

"Right, Milan." Tony said. I sighed loudly, and over exaggerated.

"Alright, alright but we can't run from this Tony." I teased, walking with him to the elevator, just this once I think I've climbed enough stairs. As we were walking Tony lightly threated our two fingers together and I softly smiled as he went on about the benefits of going to Italy right now.

I really did love this man.

I clutched the papers in my other hand, completely unaware of the problems they would cause when I read them.

**Well, this is it guys. That's the last of this one. Do you think that maybe it was to fluffy? I wasn't sure but I wanted them to have a moment where she woke up, because I always hate it when people don't put the moment they wake up. I think that's just an opportunity wasted if you don't write it. Regardless, I've written enough of the Thor story that I'll be satisfied to put some of it up soon, and you know what that means, SEQUEL.**

**I'm so happy with this story, and I'm trying to fluff up a few chapters of the sequel where I kind of messed it up. It'll come out better I hope. I'm so happy with all of you for this story, and thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I've only had this much for my Hunger Games story. **

**I'm just really happy with this story. I've always wanted to write this story, and when I first started, if you don't know this already, I had a very old laptop and that was it. I'd written the story and then my computer crashed and I lost it. It took me, I don't know, a year to get my hopes back up, and I'm happy I did. I struggled through at least five different types before I wrote this. I hope you guys loved it as much as me.**

**So again, thank you for reading and I hope you stick around for the sequel, which will be coming soon. (And by soon meaning I might even put it up tonight)**

**Can you do me a favor? *puppy eyes* Will you tell me what your favorite parts of the story were? Thank you!**


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